Expanding the size of government

Cap and trade will allow large amounts of revenue to accrue to government in such a way that average citizens will not fully understand; they will tend to blame "greedy businessmen" and "evil corporations" for the higher prices. While increasing government revenues, it will allow politicians to buy votes by granting more and more tax credits to workers, which will benefit lower income workers proportionately more, while increasing the cost of government to the middle class and the wealthy -- and particularly for retirees -- all in a highly complex manner that will make it difficult to figure out how all this is being done.

The combination of deception, dishonesty, and the increase in taxes, makes cap and trade a virtually ideal policy from the point of view of liberal politicians -- particularly "blue state" politicians -- interested in expanding the size, scope, and power of government.

Michael W. Leach
Virginia Beach, Va.

Letter to the Editor, Wall Street Journal, March 17, 2009

Green is the new Red

"Global warming is quickly becoming the one-stop shop for almost every variety of social engineer and closet authoritarian who hankers to boss the rest of us around. Those who want to dictate where Americans live, including the size of their houses and lots, what they drive or whether they drive, and even what they eat, need only link their goal to the campaign against global warming to infuse it with moral force. You don't have to be a global warming skeptic (I'm certainly not) to be disturbed by this trend." -Vincent Carroll, Rocky Mountain News, October 16, 2007