Obama recently made fun of those who question the validity of “green energy.” These skeptics, he joked, must have been members of the flat-earth society when Columbus set sail for the New World. Critics of his energy policies, the president implied, are irrational Luddites who oppose anything new.
As is often the case, the president failed to identify a fundamental difference between flat-earthers and “green energy” skeptics. The flat-earthers could not use government force to stop Columbus; Obama’s energy policies depend on government force.
Even if the vast majority of people believed that Columbus was doomed to sail off the edge of the earth, they couldn’t stop him. Columbus was free to act on his own judgment, and consequently, he proved the skeptics wrong. If Columbus had been wrong, the only people impacted would have been those who voluntarily associated with him.
Contrast that with Obama’s energy policy. Even if the vast majority of people think that he is wrong, Obama uses the coercive power of government to force us to support his polities. If he is wrong, which he is, everyone (except Obama’s cronies who received billions of our dollars) will suffer.
In a certain sense, Obama is right. One side of this debate is clinging to the past, but it isn’t the side that the president believes. Obama and his ilk believe that civilization can advance by using the methods of barbarians. He believes that brute force is a proper means for dealing with other individuals. In that regard, he is using the tactics of Attila.