Engineering doesn't solve political issues either. War is politics by another means.

I was thinking about this the other day; politics, war and climate. Americans (of which I am one) are very good at looking at political threats in terms of "others" and versus. Democrats vs. Republicans. America vs. ISIL, etc, etc. When it comes to fighting a more amorphous, but equally viable threat, like climate change, we have a hard time grasping the threat. It causes fire damage to California, Oregon and Washington; flood and wind damage to Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Arkansas (at least); a migrant crisis at our southern borders; and shipment and food supply issues. If a foreign threat were causing these issues, no political force would stop "either side" from stumping to stop it. Yet, here we are, waiting it out. The Republicans denying and the Democrats in endless debate, unable to take action. Both sides unable to take action against an ongoing asymmetric war, waged upon us by a new form of enemy that we have created over the last century.

Well said! As a Canadian living in the US, I encountered the "us vs. them" culture as very subtle but real. It's like everything is a football game here, and that is the only way to frame things such that it gets attention.