Real Costs

Kimberley Strassel writes about a talk she had recently with Representative John Dingell of Michigan. Dingell is scaring the heck out of his fellow Democrats by holding their collective feet to the fire by opposing quick - and useless - climate initiatives. He insists that if they are going to do something it can't be dishonest and it can't be done by destroying one industry.

Such tenacity might explain why his own party is alternating between fury and worry over Mr. Dingell's role in today's great energy debate. Democrats took over Congress vowing to make global warming a top priority, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi planned to notch a quick victory with a bill that was long on political symbolism and cost, if short on actual emissions reductions.

Standing in her way has been Mr. Dingell. Much to the speaker's consternation, the powerful chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee is insisting that any bill should actually accomplish something, and that its pain be borne by all Americans (rather than just his Detroit auto makers). In recent months he has been circulating his own proposals for hefty new taxes on energy, gasoline and homeowners–ideas that are already giving the rest of his party the willies.

His position arguably makes Mr. Dingell the lone honest broker in the global warming debate. But it also makes him a headache for all his Democratic friends, who'd prefer he just play political nice. For his part, the 81-year-old Dean of the House–as feisty and courtly and colorful a congressman as you'll ever find–is unrepentant.

"I wasn't sent down here to destitute [my district]. And I wasn't sent down here to destitute anyone else. . . . I've got a responsibility to legislate, but I've got a responsibility to legislate well. I'm going to be honest with the American people about this and say 'look here, fellas, this is what we're going to have to do to you to fix global warming. You tell us whether you like it or not.' "

Read it all, it actually is fascinating. Longtime readers know that I am highly skeptical of the claims being made by the Al Gore brigades. They also know that I have pointed out the rampant fraud in a lot of the so-called climate initiative - many of which do considerably more harm than good. What Dingell is proposing, cap-and-trade system, huge carbon tax, massive increase in fuel taxes and an elimination of tax deductions for homes over 3,000 square feet are downright draconian. But it illustrates the reality of what will happen to the American economy. He isn't buying into the quick and dirty bogus fixes that many Democrats are. They hate him for it.

Regardless of what the alarmists say, the debate is not settled on the issue of man's involvement in global warming. It is imperative that we not rush, lemming-like, over the global warming cliff without understanding the true costs involved and the real economic damage that will result. Al Gore has financial interests in the acceptance of his theories. That alone should be making people question what is going on.