Are they sincere? Or are they merely political?

I ask that question whenever some group organizes big time protests.

For instance, I ask it when I see the latest blitz from the greens. They fume about global warming. They scream at the U.S. about cutting carbon dioxide emissions. They call the U.S. the world’s worst polluter.

And yet, they only aim their salvos at the U.S. You rarely see them protest against Canada’s emissions. Yet Canada is number seven on the list of overall emissions.

They would not dare stage protests in China. Or even outside China’s embassy here. They never wave banners and scream at Russian leaders who visit. They would not think of embarrassing India with demonstrations.

And why not? After all, China is number two on the list of emissions. It is about to take over the top spot from us. Russia is number three. India number four. China opens a new coal-fired power plant every week or so.

And India and China add millions of cars to the mix, by the year.

Now, why do you suppose the greens’ protests are mostly against the U.S.? Could it be that many of them are not so sincere in their concerns? Could it be that many of them simply hate the U.S., right or wrong? Could it be that many of them hate capitalism? And who better to protest against if you hate capitalism?

I know many greens are deeply sincere. I also know many of them are merely political. They come from the hard left and hate pretty much everything about this country. Suppose General Motors and IBM came up with a way to reduce emissions to zero. Those greens would complain that big business is profiting from emission control.

I know many folks are sincere about health coverage. They worry that many millions of Americans have no health insurance. But how many others distort the figures for political gain? (Twenty-one percent of uninsured have incomes above $50,000. One-third of the poor refuse to sign up for government healthcare coverage. Twenty percent are without insurance for only a month or two. About one-in-four uninsured are not citizens. Yes, millions of the uninsured are illegals.)