Doom-saying climate change fanatics, rabble-rousers on race issues, and pandemic lockdown advocates are prevailing in many public debates and may be playing a role in our national malaise.

A perfect example of late was when the COP28 climate change summit ended last month with a pronouncement by the organizers that the only way to save the planet is through a policy of “de-growth.”  In other words, everyone apparently needs to get poorer.

John Burn-Murdoch, the chief data reporter for the Financial Times, has fed language from millions of books and articles into data analyzers. He concludes:

“Over the past 60 years the west has begun to shift away from the culture of progress, and towards one of caution, worry and risk-aversion…  The frequency of terms related to progress, improvement and the future has dropped by about 25 per cent since the 1960s, while those related to threats, risks and worries have become several times more common.”

His conclusion is worth repeating: “The pre-industrial world was one of mass conflict, exploitation and suffering. If we are to avoid backsliding, advocates for innovation, growth and abundance must defeat the doomers.”

That is our mission at the Committee to Unleash Prosperity and why we publish the HOTLINE.