Putting climate change ahead of constituents

From Joel Kotkin at the OC Register:

This great betrayal has many causes, but perhaps the largest one has been the abandonment of broad-based economic growth traditionally embraced by Democrats. Instead, they have opted for a policy agenda that stresses environmental puritanism and notions of racial redress, financed in large part by the windfall profits of Silicon Valley and California’s highly taxed upper-middle class.

Nowhere in California is this agenda more clearly manifested than with state Senate President pro Tem Kevin de León, who represents impoverished East Los Angeles. De León has proclaimed addressing “climate change” as the Senate’s “top priority” and is calling for, among other things, disinvestment from fossil fuel companies. Rarely considered seem to be the actual impacts of these policies on the daily lives of millions of working- and middle-class Californians.

Kotkin, self describes as a classic '60's liberal, not one of the new progressives. His background as a demographer and college professor, who actually publishes legitimate academic papers, write opinion pieces based of scientific collected and reproducaible data. Not pie on the sky, un provable theories. It's refreshing to have an honest academic.