Earnest liberal: The problem with conservatives is that when it comes to environmental regs the costs are always too much and the benefit is always too small and therefore they never support the reg [referring to environmental cost-benefit analyses]. Without the EPA our water, air and land would be more polluted, without a doubt. Just like it was prior to the EPA. Environmental regs are not what got this country into the mess it’s in and they are not what is holding us back….Conservatives use the EPA as a scape goat just like democrats use the oil companies.
Not quite right, explains the libertarian-conservative in response. Here’s why:
Not true, Iggy. Our country and our economy passed through a "process" or "period" wherein externalities (pollution) were not yet understood and recognized. People were too busy trying to stay alive (know what the average life span was in America right up to the 1930’s? Look it up; it was pretty short) and generate that which made life easier. As technology advanced, our lifespans extended, and staying alive (i.e. getting what we need to survive) became easier, people turned their attention to what had become obvious problems (since staying alive was no longer such a dicey thing). Those problems included air and water pollution, also known as industrial "externalities" which were imposed upon society by various industries and businesses. No one had serious thought about them up to that time; staying alive and extending lifespans was something of a higher priority. Once we had the "staying alive" problem knocked, we then turned back to solving the externalities problems. The thing is, instead of passing rational laws that passed the costs-benefits analyses, the political classes leapt upon the idea of "protecting the environment" as a huge opportunity to extend their reach, power, wealth, etc. And they went to it with a will. The result is the out-of-control EPA that we have today that even flaunts the power of the people as expressed by Congress, and destroys whole industries in the service of frogs and minnows (take a look at the California farming industry in the Central Valley today; read all about it). Thus, the solution is not to let the power-tripper members of the political classes to continue using the EPA to run rampant over the rights of American, the solution is to kill the EPA and build a rational regime of environmental protection that operates to protect the environment rather than extending the power of rapacious members of the political classes.
Incidentally, in case anyone is unaware of it, all statist regimes—from communist dictatorships to all other forms of socialist statism—are the absolute worst environmental criminal regimes. Take a look at Russia and China, and know where real environmental degradation comes from.
Sigh. I guess I’ll just have to keep on lecturing about these things….