In God We Trust

Dear George,

I see the Europeans are in a hissy-fit again. This time, it is global warming. You call a conference on global warming, everyone descends on Bali, and then the Euros try to jettison the whole think by insisting on a concrete commitment to reduce emissions. The trouble is that the effete continentals are still mired in the reality-based community and don’t recognize theater when they see it.

They actually expect a 25 percent to 40 percent cut by 2020. Then they have the temerity to bring science into it. Their claim is that this is the amount scientists say we must cut to avoid global warming.

For Christ’s sake, George, what does science matter to a faith-based administration? God is the invisible hand of the market that will make everything come out right. He may do so my rendering us extinct, but extinction is simply a secular take on the Rapture. The bottom line is that Christians need have no fear of it.

You certainly set them straight when you pointed out that such draconian cuts in greenhouse emissions would hurt the U.S. economy.

What a magical expression is “U.S. economy.” It is the “economy” that does it. As soon as people hear the word they think science, what with all the numbers and formulas and charts and Technicolor computer screens and statistical formulas that make numbers dance to the makers tune.

The truth is that economics is not a science. It is a superstition as surely as was animism. The only difference is that instead of charms, spells and talismans, it uses numbers and formulas.

A superstition is working when nobody knows it is a superstition.

So stay the course, George. Our economy is in enough trouble. We don’t need any of this global warming nonsense to make it worse. The invisible hand will take care of us, even if it does so by impaling us on its middle finger.

Your admirer,
Belacqua Jones