Letter to the editor
To the editor:
Decline and Pending Downfall of Our American Republic: Ronald Reagan (Part 7) - Anti-Environment
This letter continues my recording many of the steps since World War II that has led to the devolution of the Republican Party into an anti-democracy party that’s transforming itself into the autocracy of the Trumpistas. Ronald Reagan embodied the Big Lie of McCarthyism, the anti-government ideology of Barry Goldwater, the “I am the state” philosophy of Richard Nixon, and the implementation of future Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell’s 1972 Memorandum to the Chamber of Commerce. Reagan’s popularity resulted in his policies leading our “advance to the rear” movement for 40 years (1981-2020).
The recent passing of James Watt reminds us of the anti-environment policies and close-mindedness against climate change that has afflicted the Grand Old Party (G.O.P.) for decades. Mr. Watt was Reagan’s secretary of the Interior (1981-83), and it was he who set the example for ignoring climate change and advancing the use of fossil fuels even after scientists at Exxon, earlier in 1978, acknowledged what they were doing to the planet.
Watt was profligate in his leasing of federal lands to fossil fuel companies under the pretense of helping to pay off the national debt. Ironically, this was at a time when Reagan was cutting taxes on the extremely wealthy and tripling the national debt accumulated by all his predecessors combined.
The House Interior Committee, chaired by a Democrat, whose party still held the majority in that body of Congress, asked him if he favored preserving wilderness areas for future generations. His reply was, “I do not know how many future generations we can count on before the Lord returns.” I, and others, interpreted him to mean that we needed to use up all our natural resources while there is still time before Armageddon.
Watt’s supposedly “last gaffe” was when he complained about a Senate vote – and Republicans held majority control of the Senate – that barred him from leasing any more federal land. He was upset about who composed the panel that criticized his coal-leasing policies: He said that it contained “every kind of mixture – I have a Black, a woman, two Jews, and a cripple.” He was forced to resign post haste.
I never thought Reagan was particularly concerned about that malignant remark. Watt lost Reagan when he decided that the Beach Boys should no longer perform at the annual 4th of July concert on the Washington Mall. Watt believed the band not to be appropriately
wholesome enough for a patriotic celebration. Reagan informed Watt that both he and Nancy loved the Beach Boys. After that, Watt was toast.
Nevertheless, each successive Republican administration after the Reagan-Bush era has tried to do more damage to the environment or more good for the fossil fuel industry than that of James Watt’s tenure at the Department of the Interior. Bush/Cheney’s destructive “energy” policy was done clandestinely, and Trump’s policy was to undo everything Obama did to save the planet. David Offutt
El Dorado