Conservatives?

Question

I know you guys think the free market will solve all our problems, but someone please explain to me how it's going to rejuvenate the environment once we've devastated it. I am not talking about global warming. I am talking about, water and air and arable land.

Truth be told- I am sorry, I shouldn't have generalized. I just hear so many cons talking about how much more important the free market is than the anything else. Thank you for doing your part- I change it to SOME conservatives.

Tom-

Do you really expect corporations to regulate themselves- just look at the history of corporate pollution. I don't think it is your goal- I just don't think the free market is the answer to everything. We need some rules and consequences. Hey- lets let the market take care of our murderers and rapists too. Yes- a lot is screwed up- but do you think the free market would take care of poor people, the environment, etc. Corporations are not known for caring about people more than profits. I don't necessarily think the gov't is good for everything- but we can't just get rid of every rule, regulation, and social program.

Loctus- THERE ARE NOT MORE TREES IN THE US NOW THAN WHEN IT WAS SETTLED! That is the most ignorant thing I've heard all day.

Archangel-
What if people don't know about the pollution until it is too late? People get cancer all the time from carcinogens that businesses have put into the water and air. I trust people, but not everyone cares or thinks it is a big deal. Why do you thin New Jersey is one of the most polluted states and also the home of Monsanto? A million people could report Monsanto, but they have a monopoly an bio-genetics and the herbicides to go with modified seeds. Sometimes, corporations are so powerful, you can't just boycott them so easily. Also- the earth is big- but it is a delicate balance. It is not indestructable.

loctus-
Your link stated "In fact, the U.S. today has virtually the same number of forested acres it had in 1920 despite the enormous increase in population and per capita wood use since then."
Not that there are more trees now than in 1776, or when the first settlers came. Not the same thing.

Arcangel- it's not that liberals don't think people are smart enough- we just don't trust big corporations to care more about people than money- because they have proven they generally don't.

P.S. Look at all the superfund sites. Why didn't people just report these, and boycott nuclear energy (or weapons manufacturing) when their babies came out with birth defects- Love Canal- look it up. Some times it is the gov't doing the pollution. I am not suggesting communism.

I just think we need to hold corporations and the gov't accountable, not give them free reign. We need even stricter environmental laws with harsher punishments. You fine a corp. a few hundred thousand. Not much to them. Maybe jail time. Hell we send people to jail for smoking weed, why not send people to jail for putting carcinogens into the water air.

Answer 1

These people have all missed your point. Our environment is being ruined, and nothing is saving it. But there are many who are vested in the actions which destroy it. It seems like you are asking if, when the environment is beyond repair, is the free market going to bring it back? No- nothing will be able to. It is true that we cannot depend on corporations or the government to regulate themselves. The biggest single polluter in the world is the US military. We cannot just report and boycott them. Who would we report them to anyway? It is all good and fine that so many of these people recycle, but there is way more to it than that.
Conservatives seem to think that the free market is the end all and be all of how we should run things. Yes it is good for some things- but we have to regulate corporations and what they do. Please tell all the farmers in Haiti that the free market has made their lives better- I don't think they will agree. We need to diversify- socialism is not bad when it comes to certain things. I think the problem is that people are looking for one solitary system, instead of making some hybrid of all of the bits and pieces of other systems and throwing away or refining the parts that don't work. First step- government needs to separate from big business. They make too lethal a combination. As long as people don't want to recognize the problem, or put economics before environment, this will not be solved. If we don't have a healthy environment, it will kill everything eventually- including businesses. People really understanding the consequences is the key.

Answer 2

The free market is the only model which works. The model where the government controls everything has been tried. It is called communism and it has failed miserably everywhere it has been tried. Even China, the last great communist nation is moving to a free market economy. To believe that conservatives are not concerned about the environment is a liberal myth. Conservatives are concerned with the environment, but also understand that we have to balance economic realities with proper and responsible regulation. Businesses should be regulated properly in areas of environmental concern and the United States has some of the most stringent pollution controls in the industrialized world. Each of us can do things to help the environment and should always strive to do so. Personally, I try use environmentally friendly products. I recycle. I turn off lights I don't need in my house and carpool to work. I will give you the benefit of the doubt though. What system would you like to see put in place to replace the free market?

Answer 3

I'm conservative. I compost and I recycle. Composting is alot of fun. I shred all my junk mail and that stupid gift subscription to Rolling Stone that someone got me. It's goes in the barrel add some coffee grounds and food scraps wait for it to warm up and add it to the bigger compost pile. It's fun. I also pick up coffee grounds from coffee houses that would otherwise be going to the landfills.

I don't believe we can fully destroy the environment. Earth is plenty big enough to take care of itself. The United States cleans up it's messes for the most part, it's part of a civilized free-market believing society. How many of the jokers that believe global warming take the Al Gore stance on it? You conservatives need to drive prius's so we can fly in our personal jets. Compare the pollution we put out compared with socialist/liberal countries.

I'm not talking about global warming pollution either...
That is false. Simple biology predator/prey logic tells you that if there is more C02, it helps plants grow so you get more plants until the plants produce enough oxygen to offset the C02 emissions. That's why people who grow marijuana inject the rooms with CO2.

The free-market system also works because people like you would report on a company that was polluting, then that company either cleans up or loses you and everyone you tell as a customer. That's free market economics/government. It allows people the right to choose. Liberals don't believe people are smart enough to chose correctly or take care of themselves. Conservatives do.

Have you noticed who runs New Jersey and has for years? Does anyone in the nation have higher taxes than New Jersey? It's democracy basically, if bunches of people don't believe the water is causing cancer maybe it isn't.

If the people show the company they care by not buying stuff that company makes, the company will clean up it's act.

Answer 4

The free market is the best device to protect the environment. Do you honestly think it's our goal to pollute the air we breathe, the water we drink and destroy everything around us? Secondly, what evidence do you have that the government is capeable of managing everything. Look at how screwed up the welfare system, Medicare, and almost every other government agency is . Look how mismanaged the city of New Orleans was in terms of it's storm preparation before Hurricane Katrina was.

Answer 5

We do our part. Someone tell me what they are going to do with all those warehouses full of plastic? I'm curious. And when it comes to recycling, and you have to rinse out everything, when is it wasting water (our most important natural resource)?

And when will we realize plastic never goes away, but paper comes from trees? And trees grow.

Sometimes I think liberals come up with ideas that sound good to them, but haven't really been thought through in the long term. Our seal preservation is destroying our salmon industry.

When will it be time to stop thinking we have to "help" nature--and just enjoy it?

Answer 6

When the need is here and you are willing to pay someone to do the work it will be done. There are more trees in the U.S.A. now than when it was settled. The free market responds to need and profit if you want something for free do it yourself.

Answer 7

I am conservative. I care about the enviornment. I recycle. I wash clothes in cold water, use paper bags, try to buy enviornment-friendly goods, walk...etc. I am one person doing my part...are you?

Answer 8

Yeah, you gotta put conservatives in the packaging to preserve the food. Is that right?

Answer 9

Locutus -
" There are more trees in the U.S.A. now than when it was settled."

Where exactly did you get that so-called fact?

Answer 10

Please google Roy Spencer!