Democracy In Action

As reported in The Hill:
"Polling continually shows that voters rank climate far down on their list of priorities. And although energy prices are lower than they were a decade or so ago, few lawmakers want to be responsible for significant increases in consumers’ costs or job losses that could accompany new policies.

Democrats, who are now favored to seize the House, have crafted their campaign message around issues like increasing working-class wages and lowering the cost of prescription drugs. They think the kitchen-table agenda will resonate more effectively, particularly in conservative-leaning districts where voters tend to be wary of the economic impact of climate legislation."

The first problem of course is basing your strategy on "polling" rather than any ethical considerations. I'm sure that polls would show me that Hugo Chavez was a dictator and that Saddam Husein was stockpiling WMD's. And that Adam and Eve rode dinosaurs. Whatever. I am constantly told that as an organizer I have to "meet people where they are at" which is code for clueless, center-right, and incoherent. And yes, many folks are filled with wacky information, but they are probably also feeling anxious and abused and eager to hear something that might sound half-way candid and honest. And radical. There is no way I can know "where they are at" through some momentary, cursory exchange, much less through some cleverly worded poll.

So the second problem is that if these Dems, who have been wringing their hands about the "huge deficit", do in fact "seize the House", they will cave on climate. As they themselves will tell you, the only way to shrink a deficit is to grow the economy and to do that you have to frack and drill and mine and burn as "a transition phase" to a greener capitalism. And with their higher wages, the working class will be in no hurry to see anyone throw a wrench in the gears. With cheaper prescription drugs, us old people will say "I guess the system has self-corrected itself" and with our savings we can take a cruise ship to Jamaica.

So it is finally time for Extinction Rebellion. Let's fill the jails (as a first step anyway) backed with the explicit threat of more drastic action.