Republicans Who Know Climate Truth Are in Lockdown.
A convert to climate activism describes the dilemma of ambivalent Republicans as being in a “denialist penitentiary”—whose unforgiving jailers are the Tea Party.
An interview of onetime denier Jerry Taylor by Sharon Lerner in The Intercept explains the path by which he became converted. As a conservative, he frames his case to “conservative elites” in terms of gambling. In the face of dangerous uncertainty, the smart money hedges its bets. “We don’t know exactly what will happen. Given that fact, shouldn’t we hedge?” He emphasizes speaking in a “dispassionate” way to get his points across, and eschews talk about needing fundamental economic change—”to most conservatives, that’s just nails on a chalkboard.”
For interview of Taylor see How Jerry Taylor reversed course on climate
Intra-party division on climate change?
Will the Republican “wall of denial” crumble? Taylor seems to think so. He notes that last year three Republican senators ran as climate moderates and “paid no political price.”
So much for my thesis that the Republican party is a tribe that can brook no division. Taylor knows of whom he speaks. Maybe when the stakes are high enough division may come. Maybe when public good is totally on the line, some may break ranks.
Taylor joins a rising chorus of conservatives as well as centrist Republicans who are publicly parting ways with denialist orthodoxy. If you have a moderate Republican legislator in your district/state, you might nudge them along by bringing their attention to conversions such as Jerry Taylor’s—in the most dispassionate way you can muster, of course.