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I just finished your discussion with Robert Bryce: What’s so bad about “peace, love, and understanding” when it comes to conversation with two articulate energy mavens. In other words, fabulous.

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Jul 30, 2022·edited Jul 30, 2022

Roger, one of the things that I have found to be a bit of a turnoff is your penchant for usually including a disclaimer that you are, and have always been, a card carrying Democrat/Progressive. I hope as you work through this process of liberation from academia that you consider more flexibility in your political views as have Michael Shellenberger and Leighton Woodhouse.

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Mark,

First, thanks for being a subscriber, appreciated. I am actually not a Democrat, never have been. I registered as unaffiliated when I turned 18 in Colorado and have never changed that. Anyone is free to AMA here about my politics, including how I vote. Happy to share.

Also, FYI, this is what I had up on my old blog about this (from 2009, yowza!):

Q: You often comment on policy issues, so what is your political orientation?

By some combination of nature and nurture I am an unreformed pragmatist, an unabashed policy wonk, and trained as a policy scientist. On issues that I gained some expertise in, I've seen them become far less black-and-white in my own mind than I had once thought they were when I knew less about them. Thus, I am very cautious about issues that I know little about where solutions or positions seem totally obvious. The world is a complicated place. The most ironic thing about learning is the realization of how little you actually know. On the traditional left-right spectrum of American politics my views are probably most consonant with those of the “Blue Dog” Democrats who argue that “the stale extreme left vs. right approach requires a breath of fresh air.” If you want to know what I think about things that I have some expertise in, just have a look at the blog and my publications and you'll get a pretty good sense of my views on particular subjects. If you have questions, just ask me.

http://rogerpielkejr.blogspot.com/2009/06/occasionally-asked-questions-about.html

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