Another Moral Failure

An article in the New York Times from Wednesday was another sad reminder of where the culture of de-regulation has brought us. The article says the EPA has been studying whether to regulate coal ash for 28 years. It goes on to say they don't have a schedule for implementing regulation at this time. Of course, there's also the obligatory statement from a coal industry spokesman saying that the industry needs no further regulation.
You can't make this stuff up. If you were to examine the issue in a vacuum, the question would be, is it permissible to allow toxic substances to be dumped into the ground without any regulation? Only coal industry spokesmen would say yes. Everyone else would laugh at the fact that the question even needs to be asked.
The lack of regulation in the financial industry has brought us to the edge of ruin. Will it really take a major environmental disaster for us to act on this issue? We had to have Exxon Valdez and Three Mile Island before those industries were properly supervised. What has to happen before the coal industry wakes up to its environmental responsibilities?
Just as with every other failure of moral courage in this country, there is no one person responsible. We are all responsible. Complacency has bred a spirit of buck passing that allows each person to shed their responsibility in favor of the assumption that someone is watching the store. Well, it has become clear that no one is watching the store. Concern is apparently not enough to create action.
Taking a proactive attitude toward this and other environmental issue would demonstrate to our citizens and to the world that we are serious about protecting the environment for our ourselves and our posterity. Having to tell our grandchildren that we could have done something but instead we chose to study the problem for more than three decades is a fate no one should have to face.
President Obama was elected to rekindle the hope and spirit of Americans after nearly thirty years of permissiveness and stupidity. I pray to my God that he is able to shoulder the enormous burdens he has been entrusted with. Only through a show of unfailing support and rare unity will he know that he can move forward in bold fashion to make the kind of changes that this country needs to reconcile itself to its own deficiencies. It is a sad fact that so many people feel that they should not be told how to live, but then demonstrate that they have no idea what conducting themselves in moral, responsible fashion is all about. Emotional development and real action are passed over in favor of boosting the ratings of American Idol so a false feeling of unity can be created. We can do so much better. We owe it to ourselves and future generations to start immediately.