An Inconvenient Truth

Any serious effort by the GOP to reach out to urban communities would have to entail making environmental justice an issue.

Even if one disagrees with most of the actions of the Obama administration, it’s hard to come up with a rational criticism of the administration’s efforts on behalf of environmental justice. One doesn’t have to be a moonbat to be concerned about pollution in urban communities; it’s not hard to see a link between pollution in these communities and health problems that disproportionately affect residents of these communities.

For the past three decades, the GOP has been perceived as the less vigilant of the two major parties with regard to environmental concerns. It’s a damn shame that this is the case, because for years it was the GOP that had a green reputation. As Morris Fiorina of the Hoover Institute noted in his 2009 book Disconnect: The Breakdown of Representation in American Politics, “The Republican Party had a longstanding claim—dating from the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt—to be the conservation party. A number of the older conservation groups, such as the Audubon Society and the Sierra Club, traditionally had their roots in the Republican-friendly upper middle class. Meanwhile, industrial unions were a major component of the New Deal Democratic Party, and the livelihoods of their members were threatened by proposals to clean up industries that employed them.”

What better way for the GOP to reclaim that proud legacy than by committing itself to efforts to combat environmental damage in urban communities? Two parties are better than one on this issue, no?

A GOP-led effort to combat the environmental exploitation of urban communities would be an example of doing well by doing good.  It would send a message to residents of these communities that the GOP does in fact understand the unique problems these communities face. Once that message is sent (and followed up on), perhaps these residents would seriously consider other GOP arguments vis-à-vis economic and educational issues.

There’s a clear path to repairing the GOP’s negative image in urban communities. Republicans just need to walk down that path—and not leave too much of a carbon footprint.