Here's a bad idea...

Some way, somehow, Republicans have convinced Americans that they are the party of the economy, the guys that get it when it comes to jobs. I'm not sure how that's happened because lately, all Republican proposals seem to be aimed at undermining the recovery from the Great Recession - a recession, by the way, that began under a Republican president with Republican policies in place.

Here is the most recent awful idea the GOP is throwing at us - banning the EPA's ability to limit the emissions of greenhouse gases.

This is done in the name of economic growth and job creation, and perhaps in the short term, some factory that is allowed to pollute at will may add a few more workers. Of course, over the long term, the theory is fundamentally flawed and threatens undermine the future of the economy. For one thing, all of our pollution is eventually going to catch up to us, so just for the sake of our species and the planet we should stop polluting and screwing with the Earth's natural regulatory processes. But even if you don't believe the world is going to end tomorrow, and I don't, it's time to stop using that as an excuse to undercut the American economy.

The world IS NOT going to end in 2012, but the world's population IS going to grow and more and more people ARE going to live at higher standards using MORE resources. As this happens, they will want technology that provides clean and renewable energy. This isn't speculation, this is fact. We have the foresight to know this, but apparently, we do not have the foresight to act on it, so while we continue to debate science, make the Earth progressively dirtier, and lose ground to international competitors (read: China) in the field of alternative energy, we could be investing in American jobs and sustainable energy.

But instead of pushing towards the future, Republicans are doing what they do best and clinging to the past. A past in which we didn't know how much harm we were doing the Earth, a past in which coal and oil reigned supreme and would forever, and a past in which America didn't face global competition, so even if we screwed up, we didn't worry about it as much.

The problem is, that's all in the past. The future is green. The rest of the world knows it; and we're long overdue for getting on board. Not only should the EPA be regulating the emission of greenhouse gases, but we should start taxing gasoline, raising that tax incrementally to spur investment in the field of clean cars.

The technology exists and can only be improved upon, the science supports the facts, the rest of the world is already moving towards the goal. America needs to find the willpower to do the same...or we could just stop electing people who live in the 1950s.