More Elections

The email from 350.org says : "the 2018 and 2020 elections will be some of the most important in our lives." So following the disastrous route taken by the labor movement, the climate movement will invest all its energy in the Democrats. The party of Pelosi and Schumer will talk a good game about a new green capitalism of jobs and economic growth and consumption and who knows, the party might even win back a majority in the Senate (if Trump is caught humping a fifteen year old), and liberals will smile with self-satisfaction and say "see you silly revolutionaries, the system really does work just as designed". But don't expect anything close to the radical action required to avert climate catastrophe. Look instead for a new emphasis on nuclear energy ( years of endless debate) and geoengineering (they will let NPR take the lead on this). Maybe a few billion will get put into the Global Climate Fund to help with useless "adaptation". Some solar energy, a few electric cars, another UN COP agreement to reduce emissions.

But after the first year the conservative backlash will grind all action to a halt and all the movement energy will have been dissipated and another generation of activists will go back to their game consoles. You know the drill, anyone backing a carbon tax is labeled a socialist and Capital goes on strike and the economy goes into recession and the fascists point to all the global chaos and on and on it goes. Stuck on the merry-go-round of "capitalist democracy", the terrifying nightmare where you helplessly watch yourself repeat the same mistakes over and over and over. The pathology of disavowal whereby you know you are trapped but you act AS IF you aren't.

I can imagine Bill Mc Kibben and Naomi Klein looking at each other and saying "Well, really there is no alternative", then with slightly embarrassed smiles, heading off to write fundraising letters. And in a tragic twist, we can say that Bernie Sanders and his "political revolution" are to blame for perpetuating the illusion of "progressive" government, an illusion in which DSA and 350.org are now fully invested.