Throwing the game to win the scrimmage

If I had only one sentence to say what makes me so mad about the modern American conservative movement, that sentence would be:

American conservatives hate American liberals so much that they're willing to hand the world to China.

Matt Yglesias quotes a Center for American Progress study about stimulus spending and renewable energy:

A February analysis by HSBC Global Research in Hong Kong projects that nearly 40 percent of China’s proposed $586 billion stimulus plan—$221 billion over two years—is going toward public investment in renewable energy, low-carbon vehicles, high-speed rail, an advanced electric grid, efficiency improvements, and other water-treatment and pollution controls. This stimulus is on top of historic levels of government spending and private investment in renewable technology, energy efficiency, and low-carbon growth all across China. The upshot: China, according to a recent analysis, is “the largest alternative energy producer in the world in terms of installed generating capacity.”

This massive stimulus plan will spend over 3 percent of China’s 2008 gross domestic product annually in 2009 and 2010 on green investments—more than six times America’s green stimulus spending as a percentage of our respective economies. This is about $12.6 million every hour over the next two years. In the United States, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act invests $112 billion in comparable green priorities over the next two years, about half as much as China, according to HSBC. This represents less than half of one percent of our 2008 gross domestic product.

Undoubtedly, much of this deficiency in our own stimulus package is the result of the need to compromise with conservatives in Congress. Conservatives have steadfastly opposed government promotion of renewable energy. Conservatives have steadfastly opposed strict mpg standards for American cars. Conservatives have steadfastly opposed high-speed rail. Conservatives have steadfastly opposed government spending on all the other stuff in that list - energy efficiency, water efficiency, electrical grid upgrades, etc.

Why? Certainly some of it has to do with corporate lobbying. Certainly some of it has to do with the (irrational) conservative allergy to any kind of government spending. But a lot of it is just to piss off liberals.

Liberals complain about global warming; conservatives make a religion out of believing that it isn't happening. Liberals suggest increased use of trains could boost our economy; conservatives declare that trains are a socialist plot. Liberals warn of peak oil and the need to make cars more efficient; conservatives threaten to use their SUVs to crush fuel-efficient cars.

It's theater. It's a game. It's a joke. But it's also real policy, real economics; our oil import bill is staggering, our cars don't sell overseas, whole regions of the country are cut off and dying. Droughts and blackouts are spreading. And all that's not even taking global warming into account.

Meanwhile, the Chinese are lapping us. Authoritarian their system may be, but they are pushing ahead with measures to strengthen their economy against the end of cheap petroleum and cheap water, while we are cutting off our nose to spite our face. A few Republicans recognize this very clearly; why don't the rest?

I'll say it again: American conservatives hate American liberals so much that they're willing to hand the world to China. This must end. This must end now.