Skyrocketing gas prices, in a sense, should be welcomed by the environmental community; after all, how better to discourage driving? The political reality, however, is much different. Why?
As with the previous post, for two reasons. First, the prices aren’t actually discouraging much driving, due largely to pandemic revenge travel. Second, the left is undoubtedly going to pay a serious political price for them. Anything that puts the gas-guzzling GOP back in power is a bad thing, on balance.
What this points out is that we need a clean energy plan with a legitimate transition period in order to avoid too much short run pain. Anything that requires the American people to put on a hair shirt, even for a limited time, is going to be political poison.