This blog was written by John D. Wilson, former Deputy Director for Regulatory Policy at the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.

Guest Blog | March 30, 2015 | Climate Change

Former Congressman Bob Inglis is back in the spotlight as he’s featured in the new documentary, Merchants of Doubt. As summarized in a Dallas Observer movie review, even after losing his South Carolina Congressional seat, Inglis continues to “press the conservative case for not recklessly destroying the world. The film’s most upsetting scene finds Inglis attempting to talk sense to Paul Gallo, a Mississippi talk-radio blowhard.”

I think its worth highlighting that Congressman Inglis is spreading vision and strong leadership, along with a sampling of calm explanation of science and economics. So I thought I’d highlight one of his recent remarks, from the Energy and Enterprise Initiative blog.

… conservative leaders will have to move to actual faith. They’ll need to believe in the power of free enterprise. They’ll need to believe that we could eliminate all subsidies for all fuels and attach all costs to all fuels. They’ll need to believe that citizens, in the liberty of enlightened self-interest, can drive innovation once marketplaces are made transparent and fossil fuels are held accountable for socializing soot.
If they can complete that journey of faith, conservatives will enter the competition of ideas with an alternative to command and control regulation. If we fail to enter the competition and if the country decides to act on climate, we risk losing a tremendous opportunity for free enterprise.

I encourage you to read the entire very stirring essay. It certainly refreshed a connection to my youth as a conservative activist, and my economic studies that explored the best ways to solve big environmental problems. It would be great if there was an opportunity to put this kind of vision into practice.