Just ask Jonathan Chait, who argues that there are a number of reasons why the Senate’s consent isn’t really necessary. Mostly, though, when you really consider the “seriousness and urgency — you can’t un-melt a glacier — the broad way to think about climate politics is that Republicans have ceded the field completely.” Well yes, that’s definitely a broad way to think about any issue. A bit authoritarian, sure, but as the Constitution probably says somewhere, when you deem an issue super important, feel free to ignore the rest of this nonsense and do what’s “right.”

In this case, if an American fails to participate in environmental scaremongering, if he believes in human adaptability over unproductive panic, if he reasons that the benefits of fossil fuels usage outweigh the benefits of turning Luddite, and if he votes for people who won’t support the United Nations’ prescriptions for dealing with climate change, he has relinquished any right to participate in the debate. Sounds reasonable enough.

As always, ad hoc justification to come.