What Is Cap And Trade?

This chart is making the rounds:

Given a choice of three options, just 24 percent of voters can correctly identify the cap-and-trade proposal as something that deals with environmental issues. A slightly higher number (29 percent) believe the proposal has something to do with regulating Wall Street while 17 percent think the term applies to health care reform. A plurality (30 percent) have no idea.

And yet this is arguably the biggest policy shift proposed by the Obama administration. No one explains it; no one explains why it is preferable to the alternatives and, as this blog has revealed, it's a vital and fascinating and contentious debate. The right has a great deal of responsibility since they are still in Drudge-Inhofe land. But just because we do not have a serious right-of-center party in this country doesn't mean we don't need to debate this more fully.