Wall Street Panjandrums vs. People of Faith

Submitted by Alex Carpenter on July 1, 2008 - 9:50pm.

The high priests in the Wall Street Church of Corporatism have issued forth another op-ed fatwa against the majority of Americans who connect their faith to our environment.

In today's Wall Street Journal piece, "Global Warming as Mass Neurosis," editorial board member Bret Stephens rips into the faithful:
A second explanation is theological. Surely it is no accident that the principal catastrophe predicted by global warming alarmists is diluvian in nature. Surely it is not a coincidence that modern-day environmentalists are awfully biblical in their critique of the depredations of modern society: "And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart." That's Genesis, but it sounds like Jim Hansen.

And surely it is in keeping with this essentially religious outlook that the "solutions" chiefly offered to global warming involve radical changes to personal behavior, all of them with an ascetic, virtue-centric bent: drive less, buy less, walk lightly upon the earth and so on.

Ah yes, so radical, that idea to consume less and walk more. I guess that would baffle the car service elite.

If he wants to attack folks who care for creation as being "awfully biblical in their critique of the depredations of modern society," I can think of tens of million Americans who would accept that challenge.

Furthermore, this op-ed shows that the men who wield the most control on the market are more than happy to pay lip service to our religious values, except when, as during the fights over abolition or now over climate change, the results would mean a few less million in their pockets.

The genius heads of the Wall Street Journal call Americans "Biblical" and "radical" if they drive less, buy less, and walk more. Talk about sophistry. The deniers are not only content to dismiss science, now they attack Americans for their religious values and private decisions over consumption. That's not even good faith in markets, that's panjandrum presumption.

With gas prices only going up and American bodies suffering for lack of exercise, once again it's clear whose health and wealth the Wall Street hoodoos are willing to prey over to make a buck. As market-driven foreclosures escalate, oil speculators spin, and global temperatures rise, look out gas conserving, frugal shopping, radical walkers. To the Wall Street Journal Global Affairs editorial expert: we're the real problem

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