Anyone who has risen to a position of authority via the electoral process has my respect, whether I vehemently disagree with that person or not. The fact that they must somehow garner the votes needed to be elected is something I could not do. In spite of my desire when I was young to be in politics, I realized very early on, to quote the immortal Ralph Kramden in “The Honeymooners,” “I gotta big mouth.”

Again, one must smile at all of this at times.

But let me put this idea forward. If one goes back and looks at NOAA’s longer-term outlooks for last spring, summer and this winter, one sees the lack of the kind of cold that has occurred. Last summer the worry about yet another scorching hot summer – which Weatherbell.com did not have in the nation’s midsection and does not have again in the heartland for this summer, where a lot of crops are grown – was in the forecast from many sources. The February-April period last year was uncommonly cold. The winter had “equal chances” in much of the nation. My point is this: The government agency – despite a full year now of colder than normal temperatures and a global temperature that is going nowhere and is actually drifting down as we have shown countless times – had little visible idea that this was going to happen. My statement back in January saying this winter would have the economic impact of a major hurricane on the U.S. coast is basically what you are now hearing. The winter has caused the economy to be less vital if you support current policies, or if you don’t, it’s enhancing the disaster that this is being portrayed as.

Strange bedfellows here though, as the people in the top echelon of the government whom I debate global warming with can actually say that what I am pointing out is a reason for why the economy is not better. My counter is, well, why did you not at least ask for some private sector opinion as to where this is going? Certainly other opinions on both the short and long term could serve you well. There are some of us who in spite of disagreements can try to work with people who don’t see eye to eye with us, without “selling out” or being soft.

Now let’s look at another issue. A few weeks ago, a Ukrainian wrestler was training in my neck of the woods and I got to talk to him about the situation in his nation. He told me, “We want what you have: freedom. That is all.” Very simple. Now there is no way I am advocating armed intervention in the Ukraine. But consider this: An America weakened by the shackles of the Climate Ambulance Chaser agenda is no help at all to people yearning to be free. If not us, then who will stand for these people? Russia needs the price of energy to be higher to sustain its goals. By not expanding our ability to drive the price of energy down, because we are burdened by an agenda that claims the number one threat to mankind is global warming (I would suggest it’s still the same as it always has been: tyranny over your fellow man), we are powerless to drive the price down and affect this situation. So, you make the call. Which is the biggest threat here to the freedom of man and his advancement or, dare I say, his progressive movement toward a better world – global warming, or a global warming agenda that limits what freedom-loving people can do and invites tyranny to crush the seeds of Liberty wherever they dare sprout?

I have not heard from my wrestling friend since he went back to Ukraine. One thing I learned as a wrestler at Penn. State was that one must be strong on your own to be strong for others (teammates) and that the rise of the individual would lead to the rise of those around him who wished to become better. It seems to me that a stronger, more energy-independent America would be in a better position to help people in need. It really is too bad. The Climate Ambulance Chaser position – which says this is such an urgent problem that we must immediately spend hundreds of billions of dollars on alternative energy methods that can barely cause a dent to the needs of the world like current energy sources and nuclear power can – is illogical. Furthermore, we sacrifice trillions of dollars that could be invested elsewhere (like promoting Liberty or even, let’s say, developing alternative energy in the coming years) by importing foreign fossil fuels instead of producing it ourselves and paying half the price for it. And looking at the results of the Climate Ambulance Chaser agenda and the misery that it is causing, be it directly or indirectly, it makes no sense at all.

Joe Bastardi is chief forecaster at WeatherBELL Analytics, a meteorological consulting firm.