Something's melting faster than the icecaps

If we want to solve our problems at the top of the world, we need to start by looking at the ground beneath our feet

Tucker Carlson is right and wrong about right and wrong.

RIGHT for calling out Chris Hayes, who asserted at a town hall meeting that if we don't cut carbon emissions in half by 2030, life on earth will come to an end. Remember when Al Gore said if we don't reverse global warning by 2010 the effects will be irreversible? 

LESSON: Exaggeration discredits the speaker and, by extension, whatever position he might espouse. This is true on both sides of the aisle.

WRONG for misrepresenting Chris Hayes, claiming he said mankind has only 12 years left before extinction.

LESSON: See above.

RIGHT for pointing out that Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has no scientific credibility for making claims about either the threat of climate change or the solution to climate change.

LESSON: The frequently reconfigured projection models put forward by researchers have left many conservatives highly and reasonable skeptical about the urgency of global warming. Once scientists undermined their own credibility by overstating their case, lay advocates will not help the cause with statements that are even more sensational.

WRONG for asserting that, because Ms. Ocasio-Cortez is a former bartender, under thirty, and childless, she has no right to preach morality.

LESSON: Youth and inexperience don't make a person wrong. Being wrong makes a person wrong; being right makes a person right. The ability to separate the message from the messenger is a sign of wisdom, which grows continually more rare in these partisan times.

RIGHT when he agrees about Ms. Ocasio-Cortez on the problem with our economy. It's always refreshing when conservatives and liberals can find anything to agree on, especially when it's such a foundational issue. Our economy has become increasingly driven by advertising, entertainment, and interest. We are producing less and innovating less as we devote more time, effort, and ingenuity into moving around money, curating information, and distracting ourselves from the business of living.

LESSON: Ponzi schemes don't work. We learned that painfully in 2008. Or did we?

Work ethic, personal ethics, personal discipline, personal responsibility, collective accountability, moral integrity -- these are the underpinnings of a successful society. As they melt away faster than the icecaps, it's not inconceivable that our society may only have 12 years to live.

If we work together to restore a national climate of civility and intellectual integrity, we might start making real progress in addressing all our other, very real problems.