In 1988, Claudine Schneider was a Republican representative from Rhode Island, passionately advocating action on climate change and climate solutions. She was, at the time, in harmony with leaders in the GOP.
Somewhere along the line, things changed. I tracked down Ms Schneider, and some other conservatives, to look into how conservatives and Republicans are trying to find a way out of the corner they’ve painted themselves in to.
The quandary is that they’ve spent 30 years misinforming and misdirecting their base with climate denial – and now the bill is coming due. Suburbanites, women, people of color, and most concerningly, for Republicans, young conservatives are now increasingly disillusioned with the party, and looking for new voices that acknowledge reality and science.
I also looked for some perspective from Stuart Stevens of the Lincoln Project.
Are there price lists for how much it costs to buy a Republican US senator or member of Congress?
I don’t have a price list in hand, but I know that they’re surprisingly cheap.
It is better when Republicans silently change positions or are replaced by other Republicans who quietly don’t acknowledge their party’s past.
Because the alternative stance will be: it was all the fault of the Democrats, alarmists, Al Gore, AOC, enemies of capitalism, whatever.