Paris Is Burning - Again

            Cars burning on the Champs-Elysées, graffiti sprayed on the Arc de Triomphe, and smashed windows of high-end Parisian stores certainly qualify as attention-getters. But that shouldn’t be just for people of French ancestry like me, because these events demand that we focus on global warming and how to deal with it. Notice I did not say “climate change.” Climate change has been happening for billions of years and will continue to happen irrespective of humanity’s efforts to control it. Global warming, on the other hand, is caused by humans. At least, that’s what we’re led to believe by eco-fascists who tearfully predict that our addiction to fossil fuels will destroy the planet in 20 years.

            What the events in Paris are telling us is that ordinary people who struggle to make ends meet have it “up to here” with government leaders who impose outrageous taxes to finance their climate-control agenda. Of course, conditions in France hardly compare with those in America. France must rely heavily on oil and gas imports, one of the reasons gasoline costs over $7 a gallon at the pump; it also has extremely high taxes that squeeze wage-earners to fund very generous social programs; and it has one of highest unemployment rates in Europe, a sure sign of ineffective government economic policies. It should come as no surprise, therefore, that the announcement by Emmanuel Macron of a 30-cent gas-tax hike would turn into the match that lit the conflagration in Paris. The flames tell us all we need to know about what ordinary Frenchmen think of the Paris climate accords and Macron’s priorities.

            We are nowhere near this point in this country. We are now the biggest producers—and net exporters—of gas and oil, we enjoy low gas prices at the pump, and we have economic policies that have given us, at least in the last two years, a booming economy and full employment. At the same time, we can point out to climate doomsayers that the United States has done far more to reduce noxious emissions than other countries. Should we be concerned with the long-term effects of climate change? Of course. But mass hysteria is not the answer. Rather, we should continue to support sensible measures that foster prosperity while protecting our environment. And we should take note of Paris and what could happen if we don’t.