What Would Reagan Do?

     George Schultz is a pretty smart and respected guy. He was Ronald Reagan's Secretary of State and when Schultz talks, much like EF Hutton, people listen. Recently Schultz penned an Op-Ed in the Washington Post (a liberal newspaper) to outline what he believed President Reagan would have done to address the issues of global warming and Climate Change. Since so many conservatives love to quote and reference President Reagan with love and respect, I was unsure of what to expect from Mr. Schultz. To say the least, Schultz hit a home run.

     You can read Schultz's piece here. Before you dismiss Schultz as a senile old man, keep in ind he has all of his faculties and writes an insightful, intelligent and pragmatic article. Without stripping away conservative ideals, he offers up a theory on what Reagan would have done, based on his past actions concerning things like the environment and global stability. In a nutshell, Schultz proposes that Reagan would have taken out an insurance policy of sorts, by putting a price on carbon emissions while letting the market dictate the costs. Sound familiar?

     Worst case scenario? If climate change turned out to be not as bad as people believed or not happening, the innovation and growth from said innovation would have driven the economy and led to growth. Of course, once they had seen climate change was indeed happening, the steps Schultz proposes would have most likely slowed the greenhouse effect, prevented massive melt off of sea ice, glaciers and mountain snows and we wouldn't be where we are today.

     Isn't time to let the free market system so many conservatives in this country worship take center stage in the battle against climate change? If our political leaders on the hill and governing the states really want to save money and spur economic growth, isn't it time they stopped with al this nonsense and put a price on carbon? That's what Reagan would do. Just saying.