Paris accord was worthless, Trump was right to vacate
To paraphrase Winston Churchill: Never have so many been so angry about so little. Last week, President Donald J. Trump withdrew the United States from participation from the Paris accords concerning climate change.
So Many: The usual left-wing cabal of environmental groups, alternative energy parasites (they want taxpayer money) and the malcontents that have protested, rioted and been a general pain the public backside decried the move as – wait for it – apocalyptic. Of course, the apocalypse has been ongoing since the results of the election were made official around 2:40 a.m. Eastern Time November 9. The same is true for the national left-wing media, which has the same agenda as the above mentioned groups and would scream if President Trump looked out his window and declared it a sunny day. They would find some place somewhere that had rain.
So angry: Added to the cabal of the usual suspects, we had the European leadership, not known for being defenders of individual rights or the lessening of governmental interference into personal lives. They also decried the decision, and caused one leader, Angela Merkel to say that Europe can no longer expect the United States — or Great Britain (because of Brexit) to be leaders in the world stage. Mrs. Merkel is free to try it, but we doubt she, or the German people, have the stomach for being the top dogs in the world. When push comes to shove, she and the other leaders will look to the United States for military and financial backing should something happen – as it will inevitably.
So little: The Parish Accords, signed in 2015 was a giant publicity stunt with little or no actual teeth – with one or two exceptions. Nations were asked to hit specific goals in carbon emissions. Actually we should say some nations were asked to hit specific goals. All were in the Northern Hemisphere, and all were successful economies. Other signatories were allowed to belch as much carbon as they wanted with little or no problem.
Meanwhile, the successful nations were to fork over billions of dollars to other nations in a transfer of wealth that had little to do with the environment, but was seen by the United Nations and others as a good pretext to let it happen. The United States was on the hook for $3 billion.
Besides this, the signatories were making what amounted to “voluntary” promises on goals with no actual enforcement mechanism. So the question may be posed: what were we actually exiting?
The reality is if it was a treaty, it was not ratified by the Senate; therefore, it had no legal force in US law. It was, in fact, put into force by executive action under Barack Obama, and many believed that action ceased when Trump was sworn in. Obama knew the accords would never pass the Senate as a treaty, and used a go-round in order to make it look as if the nation agreed with the terms of the document.
The United States is working toward lower carbon emissions and probably will hit the targets under the accords on its own and by use of competitive capitalism rather than international socialism. Those parts of the agreement which were to have the force of law were those Obama-era executive orders and actions that were energy and economic poison to our nation, such as closing the coal industry.
The sturm und drang that we’ve seen over the last few days are just more Trump Derangement Syndrome by the usual lefties, and the resentment of East and West Coast elites and their counterparts overseas who wish a globalist, one-world government.
Trump did the nation a big favor by getting out of this agreement. He saw that even the signatory nations were acting in bad faith, not intending to live up to its tenets – including China – but letting the enviros believe they got something to combat whatever climate catastrophe they believe is coming this time.
The Paris Accord is a toothless, feel-good document signed onto by a former President who believed only in its broader government controls. We are best without it.