1990 ELECTIONS A BIG SETBACK FOR ENVIRONMENTALIST RELIGION

The 1990 elections fulfilled the worst nightmares of the professional extremists, or "activists", of militant Environmentalism. Many are out-and-out Pantheists, flat-out worshipers of their NatureGod. Almost all can fairly be characterized, in one writer's apt phrase, as "the last of the coercive utopians." That means they have a utopian (or unrealistically perfect) vision of society as a pristine wilderness unsullied by human beings going about the dirty business of living. This means they are prepared to use coercion force to fulfill their uncompromising demand: that the rest of us evil humans shall comply with their utopian vision.

As 1990 dawned, these professional environmental "activists" nursed fond hopes that electorates everywhere would embrace this coercive utopian vision, this idea of bludgeoning Americans and our free economy into their version of "protecting the environment." Don't take my word for it; reflect on the comments of a leading publication of the new religion of Environmentalism.

Last year, says the the May/June issue of the Sierra Club's magazine, environmentalists were "buoyed by the success of Earth Day and anticipating a post-Cold War peace dividend" and "voters [were] seemingly poised for radical action at the ballot box." (Emphasis added).

Note the open embrace of the word "radical" in a leading publication of Environmentalism. Usually environmental SpokesPersons take elaborate pains to appear, shall we say, "mainstream" in thought and deed. Now, it would appear, the deception of mainstream moderation has vanished. When this veil is dropped, we behold the naked face of environmental zealotry one that openly endorses "radical action" in its own publications, when talking principally to its own members.

Across America, autumn 1990 saw these high hopes of the coercive utopians dashed, as millions of voters crushed environmentalism's brightest ideas. The Sierra Club magazine continues, discussing the actual results of environmental issues in state after state:

"Every major environmental issue flopped, none more spectacularly than Proposition 128, California's `Big Green' which sought to protect everything from the oceans to the ozone layer. Although early polls showed the Sierra Club-endorsed initiative winning easily, the final result was a crushing, two-to-one defeat."

The magazine continued in this vein, lamenting voters' rejection of "Forests Forever", another California ballot initiative backed by the Sierra Club.

Home to 30 million people and (were it a separate country) the world's sixth largest economy, the environmentally conscious nation-state of California has long been known as a trendsetter. On the same day Golden State voters were rejecting "Big Green" and "Forests Forever", voters across America were clear-cutting environmental ballot issues. Thus we had our own experience in Missouri (the so-called "Natural Streams Act" lost in every county, urban and rural, by margins of up to 20-1); New York (a $2 billion environmental bond); and two biggies in Oregon (a plastics recycling measure and a proposition to shut down a nuclear power plant).

This is not all. There is evidence that popular disgust with coercive utopians and the extremism of their Environmentalist Religion is going global. Not only did every major environmental measure on the ballot in America go down in flames; in 1990, West German voters showed the gate to every "Green" (Environmentalist) Party member of the Bundestag (their legislature).

Drearily, endlessly, we hear warnings of the next end-of-the-world environmental catastrophe certain to befall us if we don't resort to whatever ghastly fad the coercive utopians are fixated on this week. Among the most frenzied alarms are the ones about an alleged phenomena called "global warming."

I'll make you a prediction. Ten or 12 or 15 years from now, after the turn of the millenium, the "global warming" that never came to pass will be a wicked joke, a staple for Jay Leno, Arsenio Hall and "Saturday Night Live." The global warming panic will be widely regarded as the worst pseudo-scientific fraud ever perpetrated on us since since when? Since 15 years ago, when the same people, after a couple of back-to-back harsh winters during the mid-70s, desperately warned us of what they insisted on calling a new Ice Age.

The coercive utopians were wrong then; they are mostly wrong now. The American people display lots of good sense in rejecting the coercive utopians and their grimly destructive measures. In their place there is yet time to embrace a sound, balanced, cost-conscious approach to the protection of our precious natural resources, which a good and gracious God has entrusted to our temporary custody. Meantime, the next time you hear one of the coercive utopians crying doom on radio or TV, pour yourself a tall, cool drink of whatever suits your fancy, and relax.