Socialism, climate change, and hypocrisy

Hugo Chavez spoke at the climate summit in Copenhagen and was greeted by loud applause. Here is an excerpt from his speech, which sums up his over all message:

We could say that there is a ghost lurking. To paraphrase Karl Marx there is a ghost running through the streets of Copenhagen. And I think that ghost is silent, somewhere in this room, amongst us. Coming through the corridors and underneath. And that ghost is a terrible ghost and nobody wants to name him or her. It’s capitalism. Capitalism is that ghost. Nobody I don’t think wants to name it. Capitalism. I’ve also been struck by some of the signs outside this conference. One sign in particular that reads, “Don’t change the climate … change the system!” I particularly liked that one and would add to that by saying that by changing the system, we could save the planet. The destructive model of capitalism is eradicating life.

You’re not going to believe this, but I agree with some of what Hugo Chavez said. I agree that there is in fact a “ghost in the room,” but we disagree on its name. The ghost isn’t capitalism, it’s socialism, but like Chavez said, no one wants to name it, since doing so would undermine the purpose of the climate summit.

For many, their liberal brand of environmentalism and socialist tendencies fit in perfectly with the climate debate. Blame corporations for all that is wrong with the world, over-regulate them, extract money from the tresuries of these capitalist countries, then use it to “help” developing nations who have far fewer responsibilities for protecting the planet from global warming. It’s really a macro version of what you see progressives trying to do through the tax code. Raise taxes on productive citizens, then use it to subsidize those who lack ambition. It’s the same thing on a global scale, using climate change as a well-developed cover.

If you are truly concerned about global warming, I hope you are equally concerned about how many of your fellow supporters are hell-bent on demonizing industrialized nations and the capitalist system. By the way, isn’t it funny how capitalism is evil, yet they have no qualms about asking for our money?