Living in a Material World

Abstract

As delegates gathered in Tampa, Florida, for the 2012 Republican National Convention, the uncertain threat of Tropical Storm Isaac threw a monkey wrench into the carefully choreographed events and eventually cut the convention short by one day. The Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank wondered whether God had “forsaken the Republican Party,” but when Isaac shifted course, veering west, others affirmed that the grace of God was indeed on the Republican party’s side. Eerily hitting New Orleans within one day of the seventh anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Isaac thankfully failed to evolve into the type of storm that in 2005 had wrought tragedy upon a city and a nation, and had proved an embarrassment to an American presidency that was too slow in responding. As Isaac passed, the media refocused its attention on the convention. On the last evening of the meeting, the Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney took the platform to deliver one of the most memorable lines of his acceptance speech: “President Obama promised to begin to slow the rise of the oceans and heal the planet. My promise . . . is to help you and your family.” The audience roared with laughter, as if global warming was a joke they were all in on. Only four years before, however, in the run-up to both the Republican and Democratic conventions, both presidential nominees had stated their belief in the realities of climate change and their commitment to some form of cap-and-trade policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote clean energy. How could the mood of a nation swing so quickly and so dramatically? The shift was as pronounced as when, in 1986, Ronald Reagan removed the solar panels installed by his predecessor, Jimmy Carter, on the roof of the White House.