In posts to this blog, I often criticize ideological rigidity. Hopefully, those criticisms come in a context that makes the meaning of “ideological” clear, but it may be worthwhile to focus on just what it means to be “ideological” rather than simply convinced of the likelihood that some phenomenon is true.
Ideology has a lot in common with prejudice, which means “pre-judging.” (We all know people who firmly believe that “those people” [insert your chosen group here] are lazy, unintelligent, shifty…whatever–and who dismiss any inconvenient evidence to the contrary.)
Ideology extends beyond such categorizing of one’s fellow humans, of course, and its most obvious characteristic is a stubborn refusal to adapt belief to evidence, and to change or at least modify one’s opinion when that evidence is too persuasive to ignore.
The problem, of course, is that persistent rejection of an unwanted reality usually prevents people from coping with very real problems.
The situation in Florida is an excellent illustration of the foregoing, somewhat abstract discussion. A while back, I came across a discussion of the impact of climate change on Florida residents and businesses. It began by focusing on the closure of assisted living facilities in that state as a result of huge increases in the cost of property insurance–not to mention the growing inability to even find a property insurer willing to write such coverage in Florida.
The state of Florida is incredibly vulnerable to climate change and to the newly numerous and severe weather events that change is triggering. Thanks to its shape and location, it is also uniquely vulnerable to rising sea waters–the Miami airport has spent some seven billion dollars “modernizing” and raising the elevation of the facility due to the speed at which Florida’s sea level is now rising. (Currently, by as much as 1 inch every 3 years.)
Right now, the most obvious effect of climate change on the state is the crisis of property insurance rates and availability.
It is not just business that is taking it on the chin. Floridians pay the highest home insurance rates in the country. The good old gator boys love to point out how expensive the Socialist Republic of New York is. But like all conservative rhetoric, it is vacuous self-congratulation with no foundation in reality.
Homeowners in the Sunshine State do not pay state income tax. But, while a married New Yorker earning $70,000 p.a. pays c.$2,726 in state income tax, a married Floridian living in a $300,000 house will pay c.$4,733 more ($6,366 vs. $1,633) than the NYer for home insurance.
Any effort to solve that crisis runs into DeSantis’ ideology–which denies the evidence every sensible Floridian can see.
Global warming denial is a state religion in Florida. As early as 2014, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection bosses banned their subordinates from saying “climate change” and “global warming.” Because, as everyone knows, the most effective way to tackle a problem is to deny it.
In March 2015, The Miami Herald reported what DEP employees had to say on the matter:
“We were told not to use the terms ‘climate change,’ ‘global warming’ or ‘sustainability,’” said Christopher Byrd, an attorney with the DEP’s Office of General Counsel in Tallahassee from 2008 to 2013.
“That message was communicated to me and my colleagues by our superiors in the Office of General Counsel.” Kristina Trotta, another former DEP employee who worked in Miami, said her supervisor told her not to use the terms “climate change” and “global warming” in a 2014 staff meeting. “We were told that we were not allowed to discuss anything that was not a true fact,” she said….
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation deleting even the mention of climate change from state laws. It gets worse. As CNN reported:
The wide-ranging law makes several changes to the state’s energy policy – in some cases deleting entire sections of state law that talk about the importance of cutting planet-warming pollution. The bill would also give preferential treatment to natural gas and ban offshore wind energy, even though there are no wind farms planned off Florida’s coast.
The bill deletes the phrase ‘climate’ eight times – often in reference to reducing the impacts of global climate change through its energy policy or directing state agencies to buy ‘climate friendly’ products when they are cost-effective and available. The bill also gets rid of a requirement that state-purchased vehicles should be fuel efficient.
I’m not sure when ideology morphs into insanity…
A popular cartoon posed the question: what if there isn’t climate change and we made the world more livable for nothing?
We had a place in Ft. Myers that we sold about a year before Ian hit. We got out just in time, but we witnessed the attitude of denial that was prevalent in our little community. It makes me sad, because Florida is full of such natural beauty, and full of so much political nonsense at the same time.
three blind mice.~ im just waiting to see how trump handles his golf mansion when it gets flooded. i guess he,ll sue desantis.. I havent stepped foot in fla since 2016. got a parking ticket while patronizing a local business with my truck running while i went and grabbed some food to go. guess the HP didnt like my Bernie 2016 bumper sticker. there is no,place to park a truck anymore unless you want to wait in a truckstop for a another truck to leave,to be able to park. but desantis wont expand parking for the very people who pad their ass. he just expects us to kiss his.. we have workers from fla. who come to NoDak to work road const. one, we pay better, two, their max unemployment in off season, there in fla for their off season work,$275 a week max. when they go home after our season,they get our NoDak off season unemployment at $650 a week. they still go back to fla every winter.and some still use the word cracker..
Although not surprising, it is consistently amazing how far climate change deniers will go to put their collective fingers in their ears and say “LA LA LA LA LA I CANʻT HEAR YOU!” That they wonʻt even believe the evidence of the insurance industry and the highest insurance rates in the country is willful blindess.
“Ideology extends beyond such categorizing of one’s fellow humans, of course, and its most obvious characteristic is a stubborn refusal to adapt belief to evidence, and to change or at least modify one’s opinion when that evidence is too persuasive to ignore.”
The above statement takes me to June 27th and the far below ideal political debate and points to the “…stubborn refusal to adapt belief to evidence…” of fact vs. fiction. A disappointing performance on the part of President Biden using facts and confronting Trump’s fiction and the always loud and ranting lies of Trump. Move forward to last night’s Presidential Press Conference; it also was not “ideal” but it was a strong Presidential presentation of our nation’s need to continue with the same strong leader to complete progress begun under his leadership and new progressive issues to begin. it will never be ideal; nothing in life is.
People; if you are looking for idealism, you do not want to look to politicians for ideal perfectionism to meet your personal needs. It ain’t gonna happen; we currently have the option to continue with the best leadership in office vs. switching to an unknown with a blank page or a return to the escalation of becoming another Dictatorship with enemies of many years becoming allies of the future. We can and must continue fighting for climate change and maintained leadership in NATO to save lives and struggle for peace in our time.
“I’m not sure when ideology morphs into insanity…” I believe it happened here in August 2015 when Trump slithered down that escalator announcing his bid for the Republican nomination to the presidency.
Jack, you will be back in the deep south once you leave the metropolises in Fla. The word cracker was used often when I lived there. I had to search for the meaning since I was a young sheltered Hoosier.
Seeing my Florida family and friends grapple with the increasing home insurance costs is genuinely concerning. When I lived there, the talk was often about homeowners having to buy flood insurance along the coast. The premiums were exorbitant, and finding a policy was a challenge in itself.
It got so bad that the governor forced insurance companies to cover our vehicles. The companies wanted to keep lucrative home insurance but bailed on covering autos because half the state was uninsured. If you were in an accident, flip a coin on whether that person had insurance. We all paid for uninsured motorist coverage.
As for climate change, the blue states are planning for the future, while the red states are in denial and/or outlaw the term, climate change. #Foolish
Deep red states like Florida, Texas, and South Carolina will react too late when the rising ocean causes real damage. They will only be able to blame previous governors. Denial and blame are part of the right-wing ideology as well.
I’m not sure which is going to get us first: climate change or nuclear bombs. I think atomic bombs will be the ultimate changer of climates. After this week’s NATO Summit, I think I’ll order plans so I can construct a nuclear fallout shelter in my basement. The lunatics are running the asylum!
p.s. Genocide Joe introduced Zelenskyy as President Putin and called Kamala Vice President Trump. And to think he has access to the nuclear codes. SMDH
For the record, the newly released GOP platform has no mention of the term climate change in it,
Joe Biden is 2 years beyond the U.S. male life expectancy of 79.25. I’m the same age and attribute it as much to genetics and blood pressure/cholesterol medications as I do to just plain luck. I also feel the effects of aging in several ways – eyesight, sore muscles, limberness, etc. – although it is a slow process and I rail against it all in different ways, mostly golf. So I understand Joe’s dilemma, having accomplished so much in his first term – I mean he stands up there in those terms with the likes of Lyndon Johnson, even FDR, pushing through legislation to fix a crumbling infrastructure and bringing us into the 21st century – and wanting to continue that progress, with all those plans he has for this great country. The problem is, his ability to remain vital, vigorous, and strong are simply slipping away. His speech reveals the aging process as much as anything; soft, wispy, slurring, stops and starts, leaving out words or inserting incorrect ones, forgetting where he was in a sentence, I could go on and on. It’s happening to me too, but I have but a tiny fraction of his grueling schedule and enormous responsibilities. His devotion to family and country – characteristics utterly lacking in his opponent – make him an enormously likeable candidate, along with those remarkable legislative accomplishments, but his age doesn’t. We need a younger, vibrant, energetic, inspirational and aspirational replacement, and we need that person fast. There’s not much time. We love you Joe, but it’s time to step down. As President, so Kamala can run as the incumbent. It’s the right thing to do. Don’t do what another beloved leader did, dying while still on the SCOTUS bench long after she should have resigned so that Obama could have nominated her successor. Do the right thing so the monster who ended up nominating the 3 justices to overturn Roe, give immunity to himself, and eviscerate our regulatory system (what’s next?) can’t be the dictator he dreams of being. At least we’ll have a better chance of winning in November.
It’s not just the cost of insurance my property taxes have doubled in the past few years. I could get twice what I paid for the house, but I’ve also installed hurricane rated windows and doors, installed solar panels to reduce my carbon footprint. I have a new roof, post Ian.
I should note that the roof was an out of pocket expense after my insurance company denied my claim and immediately went out of business. My auto insurance has also gone up precipitously. So far I haven’t had to test the company’s responsiveness, but my bet is that it would mimic my homeowners insurance company’s.
After Ian, the governor called a special session to deal with insurance costs. The solution was to limit lawsuits against the insurance companies. Job done! Maybe that’s why my insurance increase for the current year was closer to 80% than to the 100% I expected.
I’m not leaving because my mortgage is almost paid and I have remodeled every inch to reflect my own taste and needs. O
Maybe we leftists in Indiana could encourage our state’s trump loving MAGAs to move to FL where climate change doesn’t exist. They could live peacefully among their fellow trumpers and would no longer have to deal with the frustration of liberals that believe in inconvenient scientific facts.
Here is an inconvenient fact regarding homeowner/property insurance. Every time there is a climate induced natural disaster like hurricanes and wildfires in FL, CA, TX or wherever out west or in the south they happen, we ALL end up paying for them with increased property insurance rates at every annual renewal. Insurance companies spread the high costs of those disasters among all of us.
I figured this was why my property insurance keeps increasing at a much more rapid rate over the past 5-7 years than it used to and asked my insurance agent if that was the case and she said yes. She explained the formula insurance companies use to determine rate increases based upon where you live, but I can’t recall enough of the details to explain it here. Property insurance rates won’t increase quite as rapidly for those of us that live in states/areas that don’t experience frequent natural disasters, but they are increasing more rapidly than they should because the costs of those frequent natural disasters are being figured into our rates.
It was not the Republican victory in Florida that chased me back north. It was the Republican election of a dictator that did the job. I had a house on a lake in North Naples and had intended to live it out there amongst the gators and sunshine. Then De Fascist started telling professors in higher education what they could teach and the language they must use and I sold out and moved back north to live with my elder daughter here in rural Bloomington. I could afford the insurance rates there but my 45 plus years with my now deceased university professor wife demanded that I respond to De Fascist in the only way possible, i.e., absence from the effects of his fascist dictatorial views.
I spent some time in WW II in opposition to fascism and never dreamed I would or could be subject to a domestic Hitler down the road, and I am sure my now deceased wife whose older brother was killed in the war in which I participated would agree. I think De Fascist is the worst governor in the United States of America, and that’s saying something with the likes of Mississippi and the Louisiana legislature in the race.
Oh, but Florida is the “Free” state, where one is “Free” to parrot DeSantis, if not literally obliged to do so!
J Smith, that is an excellent point about the reality of the insurance costs as a proxy for the threat of climate change damage.
Gil, welcome to the over 80 club! Considering the stress and pressures of the presidency, and the most recent flubs, I can not see JB as capable of carrying on.
Harris and Whitmer would be a great team to defeat the orange flatulence, I believe.
Yes, Peggy, here it is the companies that get protection, not the people!
Todd;
cracker, the guy with the whip. nuff said
more prevlent in central fla..
“Ideology” is created by weaponizing phrases. The GOP was VERY effective in taking “Medicare for All” “Universal Healthcare” and “Defund the Police” to defeat DEMs in 2020. In 2022, they moved on to using “Progressive” in the same way. Yet, DEMs continue to use the word for many candidates. Why not just run on [progressive] policies which most folks agree with instead of waving a PROGRESSIVE flag?
Gil; President Joe Biden has earned the right to finish the job we gave him to do in 2020. It is those hard lived, public demanding, physically and mentally debilitating decades of Joe Biden’s devotion to duty to America and Americans have worn him down; yet he has the strength to rise again each time the demands knock him down. He has passed the tests of his strength and devotion to duty each time it has been demanded of him; his personal life has not been his own since he was a young man. He has risen to perform all responsibilities given to him when he lost his wife and daughter, half of his entire family, and in recent years watched his son die a horrible death of brain cancer yet came back strong after a brief rest so he could return strong.
So, you use golf to rail against aging; Joe doesn’t have time for golf or much time for his family. His stutter disability is used as a weapon against his ability to use his brain and he walks slowly and stiff to get where his job demands he go, no matter the pain to get there. I doubt this is his idea of ideal golden years he could be living but he is willing to forego it for the next 5 years of his life to save the soul of America…not for him personally but for all Americans…and so you can play golf like Trump.
truck insurance.. im going back to owner/operator status this fall. ive been insured by great western in various trucking cos since 1980. and thru the same ind office for such since 1995.heres the quote.$1600 mo, thats just liability.
for the first year. now mind ya, ive never had a chargeable accident, and never a DUI. thru the same enities since 1995, and same ins co since 1980. after that im getting $400 a month for the same policy. theres a few other type of insurance that also is needed depending on the type of hauling,collision and etc. my truck will be valued at $250K and its not a typical truck, its a full tilt custom… i rent, a farm site thats old, and the landlord never insured the house, barn etc,,i do…. im stopping at the fla border to dump my trash..
Joe stays. if the DNC mob cant come together, then its time for some serious house cleaning.,in a time when we need a compact strong wing, we can not allow division. if the DNC is depending on some smoke and mirrors to change ships, then its obvious they have become no more than a wing of trumps mob
i believe i ran across a piece yesterday while working that Joe said his mega donars are bailing,, he said to the affect, thats whos running this country now. maybe hes hit the tip of the ice burg we all need to clear them out, and maybe ,he,lll start the roast. vote progressive, and dump the DNC as its one eyed picker
Talk about denial and ideology; poor JoAnn has taken the blue pill and is regurgitating the MSNBC talking points. Joe is way beyond the occasional “stutter.” The docs in the White House are lying. Trump’s docs also lied about his health even when he got Covid.
Experts say he has Parkinson’s, but watching two parents die recently from dementia, I would bet he has dementia. A cognitive test would confirm it, but Joe refuses. Joe’s also in denial. He said he’d take another neurological test if need be, but we need him to take a cognitive test. It’s his brain, not his nervous system.
Todd. ” The docs in the White House are lying.” Proof, please. Maybe you are the one who is lying, making accusations about people you don’t know and tossing out your personal diagnosis. Even if you had a medical degree, you haven’t examined the patient and real doctors know not to diagnose without doing so. You don’t even seem to understand that the nervous system includes the brain.
You are always so quick to accuse others of being gullible but are blind to your own biases.
But the bottom line here is that none of us will decide who the Democratic nominee will be and whoever it is, we better all vote for him or her if we don’t want to live under a criminal tyrant.
WE will vote DEM, even for a stumbling “Global Leader” whose hubris may cost us our democracy,,,it is these folks who need convincing, and fast: the largest Party (independents/unaffiliated), many Hispanics/Latinos (especially, men), Black men, under 35 voters. They do not want “more of the same” – they want CHANGE with specifics. No DEM messaging like that in sight. SAD.
Todd. BTW, President Biden explained very clearly last night what he is working to achieve and it is NOT genocide. I think the term ideologue describes you quite accurately.
So much hate from Sharon Miller. It’s time for you to come out of the closet. You support Biden ,ergo, you support ethnic-cleansimg. Don’t be coy,just admit it. Embrace it.
The devotion to Biden has become maniacal,fanatical and comical at this point.
Perhaps this is the Impetus for a badly needed change within the Democratic Party?
In order to evolve and move forward, the anachronism the party has become needs to implode and be destroyed.
The party cannot fail. Only people can fail the party.
I
Professor, thank you for your tireless posts every day. Between you, DU and HCR, I don’t have to watch those talking heads on cable or network tv anymore. It’s just bliss.
Well, if Joe said he’s not supporting genocide, he must be telling the truth. LOL
Joe gets paid $11 million from the Israeli lobby to support genocide, while Sharon does it for free. Is it a racist thing to hate Muslim women and children in Palestine while being a feminist in the US?
That’s what Ian is asking.
The fundamentalists on the Christian Right support Israel because of the rapture. However, some hate the Jewish people because they reject Christ and caused his death.
However, I don’t understand how so-called Leftists can support genocide against another global brother or sister. Talk about denial.
Glad to see my observations ruffled some feathers. Of course, still no evidence that White House docs are lying or that Biden is corrupt. Just boilerplate accusations.
Defecting Democrats are offering no one and nothing as alternatives to President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, democracy, Rule and Law and the the Constitution of the UNITED States of America. Not even Trump’s MAGAs are that stupid! They are too busy planning for his victorious return to the White House.
As Sharon Miller so aptly stated; “But the bottom line here is that none of us will decide who the Democratic nominee will be and whoever it is, we better all vote for him or her if we don’t want to live under a criminal tyrant.”
There are less than FOUR MONTHS for Democrats to name a viable candidate, create an agenda, form a campaign foundation, convince the millions who still support President Joe Biden to defect, donate, create and post yard signs and join them in their seditious, treasonous fiasco. Trump and the MAGAs are too busy planning their inauguration parade route, inaugural balls, deciding on venues and musicians and fast-food dinner menus (with plenty of ketchup) for their initial White House dinner with Putin, Kim Jong Un as their first guests of honor. They don’t have time to concern themselves with what the Defecting Democrats are doing or saying. They have already won the 2024 election; cancel holding conventions, printing ballots and finding volunteers to work the polls and the polls will all be closed for Election Day 2024.
And Todd; you evidently have not been watching MSNBC for quite awhile, that blue pill I take is to prevent migraine headaches…which this election has become and there is no pill strong enough to overcome sedition and treason. By the way; with the new Supreme Court ruling giving presidents immunity, among other privileges to do whatever strikes their fancy…President Joe Biden is too honest to take advantage of the ruling to overrule the Defecting Democrats.
$11,000,000 from the Israeli lobby paid to Biden? They may donate to a PAC or campaign fund but they don’t pay Biden. Please show me a successful politician of either party who hasn’t accepted campaign funds. That is a typical progressive or MAGA slur.
I was reassured of Biden’s grasp of reality and the wisdom he’s using to negotiate foreign relations that he discussed during his press conference last night. His relationship and leverage with XI is vital/pivotal at this time to preserve western democracies. The IMPACT that Russia, North Korea, Iran and China could have has to be dealt with. Glad that a Maga reality denier isn’t at the helm at this critical time.
I remember when trump was quoted in 2017 saying that he could bring down insurance premiums by 60 to 70% by opening up interstate insurance policies sales. Sounds like the beginning of another trump pyramid scheme to me. When I was a kid my Dad besides his day job, taught CPCU classes at night to get extra money to pay his kids tuition bills in Catholic School. I don’t have that knowledge but know if done right insurance is a good socialistic tool to give some financial security that needs to be taken seriously. Anyway, that’s another reason not to let trump win.
I agree with JoAnne, I think Biden’s ready and able to take US through another term and continue his agenda. I hope democratic delegates give him a vote of confidence and let him finish the job he’s started, he deserves it.
I go back to Sheila’s statement above, “The problem, of course, is that persistent rejection of an unwanted reality usually prevents people from coping with very real problems.”
In my circle, that’s called “contempt prior to investigation” or “closed-mindedness.”
The donors are freezing $90 million in cash unless Biden is replaced. They don’t need Biden to take a cognitive test because they already know what the results will show, and so does Biden’s administration.
Right on target as usual, Sheila. I’ve been trying for some time now to alert my local climate change deniers in New Jersey to the rising tides, the projected loss of land in this sea-bordering state by looking to actions that the insurance industry will take. If that group sees a problem, maybe there is one. And ideology isn’t going to change a thing! Well, as you say: “Global warming denial is a state religion in Florida.” It’s hard to back off that stance; otherwise the residents—and their governor—would have to admit to a flaw in their thinking and in their plans. So, I won’t hold my breath waiting for it to happen. Climate-denying religious zealots will find many pews for them to fill as religious ideologues have driven sane and serious, and spiritually motivated people away from the churches… Even those edifices may well be under water in Florida before too long.
Wow! Difficult day. The informed and deeply considered thoughts expressed herein are hope inducing and comforting. Thank you all!
Todd – I apologize to others here for mentioning your name – but, get over yourself! Start providing evidence to support your ugly opinions, or button your lip. Your mean name for the president locates you squarely in 45’s territory – childish name calling & hubris sufficient to convince yourself that you are much more righteous than the rest of us. But, I digress…
I was hoping to end with a sort of cheerful, maybe amusing idea…when attempting to describe Florida (where I spent a substantial part of my youth) to friends up here, I surmount my stupefying speechlessness at whatever bizarre reality is currently disturbing the ‘Force’ by advising listeners to accept the truth that everything they read or hear or discover about Florida, EVERYTHING, is true.