The above NY Times article discusses the weakening of the Clean Water Act, increased pollution levels since that weakening, and the efforts to prevent an updated version to fix the gaps from being implemented. The anti-clean water efforts are led by Republicans like Glen Beck and polluting companies. What I do not get is why opposing efforts to ensure that we have access to clean and safe water is a conservative thing to do? Sure, government gets the power to regulate pollutants and water-bodies; however, these places are vital to all of us and cannot be regulated (and kept safe) any other way. For me, arguing against the Clean Water Act as Beck and others have done should effectively discredit them since they are arguing against our collective health and safety.
One more note. This is another example of where people need to really think about the role of government and recognize that, when regulation does not exist, excesses occur. Companies and individuals alone rarely move voluntarily to a more expensive, better for us, option.
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