By Jon Coupal
President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association
There’s an old joke about the origins of the word “expert.” The story is that it is a combination of the word “ex” – meaning a has-been – and “spurt” – defined as a drip under pressure. Therefore, “expert” means a has-been drip under pressure.
Like it or not, we all rely on experts in our daily lives. But Americans are losing trust in experts, according to the Pew Research Center. Trust in scientists and medical scientists, initially supported by their role in fighting the coronavirus outbreak, is now below pre-pandemic levels.
Diminishing trust in public health experts is no doubt the result of reports that the “experts” were not being truthful with the American people. At the beginning of the outbreak, we were told that masks were not effective in reducing the spread of the virus. But that was a deliberate falsehood designed to prevent a run on masks. (One can almost imagine Dr. Anthony Fauci channeling the character played by Jack Nicholson exclaiming, “You can’t handle the truth!”)
Current events in California provide a stark example of why citizens may be skeptical of what the “experts” have told us about climate change, especially with respect to droughts. Over the last three years, media reports and studies have strongly pushed the idea that California is now in a state of perpetual drought, some even calling it a “permanent” drought. Just last October, New Science Magazine published an article with the headline, “Human-caused climate change is making droughts more severe – and could shift some regions of North America into permanent drought conditions.”
One does not have to be a full-blown climate change denier to question what we’re being told. Of course, the “experts” seem to come up with implausible answers for everything. According to them, even the record rain that has flooded large portions of California is part of climate change and proof that we are still in drought conditions. Really?
Most people don’t remember that the scientific consensus in the 1970s was that the earth was on the verge of a long, sustained Ice Age. An embarrassing video for today’s climate alarmists presented actor Leonard Nimoy (a Science Officer on the USS Enterprise, don’t you know) reviewing all the proof that most of America would soon be receiving the same winter blizzards as Buffalo, New York.
Click here to listen to this week's Howard Jarvis Podcast, "Good Chaos In Congress" The Howard Jarvis Podcast features HJTA President Jon Coupal and VP of Communications Susan Shelley with a lively conversation that takes you inside California government in a way that's fun, interesting and sometimes scary. Check out all the recent podcasts by clicking here: https://www.kabc.com/the-howard-jarvis-podcast/
Jon Coupal is the President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association (HJTA). He is a recognized expert in California fiscal affairs and has argued numerous tax cases before the courts.
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