If you ask a Republican member of Congress why he opposes the Biden infrastructure bill, he is likely to tell you that the price tag is just too high. It is unfair to burden our children with the mountain of unnecessary debt, he will say.
Given the GOP’s behavior during several Republican presidencies, including Trump’s, this line of argument can’t be taken at face value; after all, it was Dick Cheney who told the world that “Reagan proved that deficits don’t matter.” But it’s worse than that. When Democrats make the exact same argument about protecting our children from climate change, Republicans blow it off, and tell us to live for today; doing anything meaningful to limit climate change will cost jobs and money, and who wants that? Why should we do anything for posterity? What has posterity ever done for us?
It’s enough to turn your stomach.