I agree with virtually everything that you say, but there is something else that needs to be mentioned in this context. For forty years, this nation has been targeted by a highly sophisticated propaganda campaign, designed to undermine public confidence in both government and science. Coordinated by the Koch network and its allies--approximately 500 exceedingly wealthy people, many of whom are heavily invested in the fossil fuels industry--this campaign encompasses publications such as Reason magazine, conservatie think tanks, endowed chairs at universities, various advocacy organizations, etc. They have convinced nearly half of this nation that environmental scientists are "climate exremists," global warming is "climate change" and that taxing the wealthy proportionally is punishing them for success. Don't underestimate how much they have contributed to our current plight.