What do we do about the climate madness? That's the issue that Lord Frost addressed in a recent speech to the Global Warming Policy Foundation in Britain.

Short answer: not much, not yet. But there is hope. Frost reckons that the governments in Europe are "beginning to get cold feet" on their climate agendas

I actually sense our own Government is beginning to realise that the economics are more doubtful than the Net Zero proponents argue. If, as some commentators say, our Prime Minister is beginning to get worried by the costs of Net Zero, we can only welcome that.

Then he notes that support for Net Zero policy is starting to fall with "incipient questioning of Net Zero measures across Europe" as climate change policies start to bite.

The most strongly supported measures are those which most people probably believe would not affect them -- changes in pension fund investment rules and frequent flyer levies -- while support for phasing out gas boilers has halved and support for EV subsidies is now only slightly positive.

Frequent flyer levies? How about a tax on NGO employees and lefty billionaires flying private?

Unfortunately, politicians in the West "actively prefer to live in complete cognitive dissonance" rather than think about anything. And probably the political system will select for "lifestyle change to save the planet, the politicisation of everyday lifestyle choices, the emphasis on living local and sustainability".

The only thing that Frost can recommend is to be ready for the step change.

The job of those who are willing to question the rush to Net Zero is to see this crunch moment coming and to start to get the politics ready.

The point is, Frost realizes, that the COVID pandemic showed us how government and public opinion work. Once the government launches a narrative and gets everyone on board, it can't reverse course, can't admit mistakes. The narrative continues until the world blows up, and the marginal supporters desert the colors.

Maybe the climate blow-up is coming sooner than we think. According to the Wall Street Journal, "NERC [the North American Electric Reliability Corporation] forecasts a 19% probability of a grid emergency at 8 p.m." In Texas this year.

I suppose in every political cycle there is: first, the looming crisis, second the identification of the enemy; third, the call to arms. If the war proceeds to victory, then the regime is secure in power. If the war ends in defeat, then the regime will try to blame its internal opposition -- the "climate deniers," or the "anti-vaxxers." -- like the "saboteurs and wreckers" blamed by Stalin, and the "Four Olds," old customs, culture, habits, and ideas that Mao blamed for everything.

 In other words, in the face of defeat, the regime blames someone else, anyone else, for its failure. Then, the only question is how long the regime survives as it purges its opposition, real and imagined.

In the case of the failed French Revolution, the Reign of Terror was followed pretty quickly by Napoleon. In the case of the failed Stalinist Five Year Plans, the Great Purge was followed by victory in the Great Patriotic War and the regime survived for 45 more years. In the case of The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, the Maoist regime was replaced soon after his death, but President Xi has since revived the Monarchist Dictator model.

In the case of the Obama fundamental transformation, the regime muffed its Clinton-initiated and FBI-led campaign to destroy Trump in 2016, and has probably compounded its errors in the 2020 campaign and the Biden non-administration.

So when the Net Zero movement starts to fail, our thoughtful rulers will know that they are not to blame. I wonder who they will tag with the blame? No doubt they will start by blaming lying climate deniers that dialed back the glorious climate plan that would surely have saved the climate and the economy if only the skeptics hadn't prevented the full execution recommended by the climate experts. Don't forget the pernicious influence of racists, TERFS, homophobes, transphobes, and far-right extremists assisted by ultra-MAGA Republicans and the ever worrisome violent extremist Catholics.

Jane Fonda already knows who to blame: Men. "We have to arrest and jail those men."

Yes. The Blame Game is the "tell" that the rulers' strategy has failed, and that it is reduced to blaming racists, sexists, homophobes, witches, deniers, Uncle Tom Cobbley and all.

But I have an idea.

According to The Science, the way that species survive changes in habitat is by adaptation. They adapt by altering their behavior, or by the fitness of better genes. And humans survive and thrive when people invent new ideas and products and ways of cooperation that allow them to deal with the challenges and the inevitable changes of life on this Earth.

But first our rulers must utterly fail.

Christopher Chantrill @chrischantrill runs the go-to site on US government finances, usgovernmentspending.com. Also get his American Manifesto and his Road to the Middle Class.

Image: AgnosticPreachersKid