Tomorrow: An unimportant primary and a real crisis

For the past weeks and leading up to tomorrow, our Kosmos has been dominated by a political contest in Pennsylvania that is not likely to have any permanent effect on the campaign. The most likely result is a non-result.  The Clinton campaign will continue to clutch at straws and do everything possible to derail Obama's candidacy.  So what?

On the other hand, tomorrow is Earth Day.  Never has our planet been in such bad shape.  The crisis affects is daily, from climate-based disasters to rising gasoline prices.  Every day, the effects of global warming affect our lives much more than the choice between two candidates whose positions are, contra Teacherken, almost identical.

more below the fold.

No matter what happens tomorrow in the election, we will not have a candidate who will immediately withdraw all our troops from Iraq.  We will not have a candidate who will guarantee universal, single-payer health care.  We will not have a candidate who will grant full civil rights to gays.  We will not have a candidate who will repeal Bush's fascist unpatriotic act.  We will not have a candidate with a clear solution to the challenges of immigration.  We will not have a candidate who will cut off the deadly and corrupt imports from the slave nation of China.  We will not have a candidate who will take any action to secure the liberation of oppressed peoples including the Palestinians, Tibetans, and so many others.

So, voting for your preferred candidate tomorrow is not going to change the world.  But, if tomorrow you went and changed out all the incandescent light bulbs in your house for fluorescent lightbulbs, you would be taking an action which will have a direct, it's small, effect on our energy crisis.  If, tomorrow, you went into your boss's office and worked out a way to telecommute to your job one day per week, you would be making a meaningful difference.  If, tomorrow, you went out and bought locally farmed produce from a local small business, you would be encouraging the economic changes we need to keep ourselves and our planet healthy.

If you want to change the world, do something on Earth Day to change your habits so that you reduce your carbon footprint.  Your vote for Obama or Clinton is not going to make a huge difference in the way the world operates.  Of course, you should go out and vote, but it is very important that you recognize tomorrow as Earth Day and do something to repent for our wasteful behaviors.

And, as a small step, turn off that damned TV!

•  I'm Going Whaling

  by Larry Madill on Mon Apr 21, 2008 at 03:42:39 PM PDT

  •  AYe, matey.

    by Krum on Mon Apr 21, 2008 at 03:43:21 PM PDT

    •  I'm Cowboy...

      ... On a steel horse I ride. I'm wanted -- WANTED -- Dead or Alive.

      by Larry Madill on Mon Apr 21, 2008 at 04:33:43 PM PDT

  •  On whom or what do you intend to aim

    your exploding harpoon?

    Our... constitutional heritage rebels at the thought of giving government the power to control men's minds. Thurgood Marshall

    by bronte17 on Mon Apr 21, 2008 at 07:03:56 PM PDT

•  I call it the Patriot and Sedition act

  Not sure if anyone gets it, but I think it's hilarious.

  by Mickey Thunder on Mon Apr 21, 2008 at 03:45:45 PM PDT

•  Ironically, I'm flying 2000 miles

  ... for meetings about a climate change exhibit.

  <sigh>

  We are changing. Just... slowly.

  by jeremybloom on Mon Apr 21, 2008 at 03:47:51 PM PDT

  •  Awesome

    by debatablepolitics on Mon Apr 21, 2008 at 03:49:37 PM PDT

•  I will be working

  as always to strengthen the community in which I live. Live United!

  On your post in general, this is the core problem we Democrats face. We elect candidates solely on their policy positions. The wider electorate is not that ideologically driven, the look for leaders not policy makers.

  We need to stop focusing on dogmatic issues and look towerd those that represent our values. Obama is beginning tochange that dynamic in the party, one of the many reasons I support him.

  by debatablepolitics on Mon Apr 21, 2008 at 03:52:22 PM PDT

•  There are no "small decisions" in times like thes

  So, voting for your preferred candidate tomorrow is not going to change the world.  But, if tomorrow you went and changed out all the incandescent light bulbs in your house for fluorescent lightbulbs, you would be taking an action which will have a direct, it's small, effect on our energy crisis.  If, tomorrow, you went into your boss's office and worked out a way to telecommute to your job one day per week, you would be making a meaningful difference.  If, tomorrow, you went out and bought locally farmed produce from a local small business, you would be encouraging the economic changes we need to keep ourselves and our planet healthy.

  Sartre and Camus had many vitriolic arguments during their  stormy friendship. Sartre, the windmill-tilting ideologue, believed he could "change the world." Camus, a much more subtle and original thinker than Sartre said it was impossible to change "the world," but what one could do was change lives, change people's existences for the better. And change our own existences for the better in the process. Your practical, compassionate thinking highlights the fact that there are no "small" decisions anymore; in times like these, every decision reflects a commitment, and no action or decision is "neutral." Well done.

  by CrustyPolemicist on Mon Apr 21, 2008 at 03:55:08 PM PDT

•  Except for one thing, I largely agree.

  The one thing is that Senator Obama is the one candidate most likely to have the skills, the energy and the determination to get a good climate bill passed through what will still be a Congress in which one side in the Senate could still derail things.

  If I thought that McCain or Clinton as president would result in the best action to deal with the climate crisis, I'd vote for one of them.  But that just doesn't seem remotely likely.

  Since Bush isn't about to sign any serious climate legislation, our last best hope may be Obama.  The two issues aren't as separate as this diary suggests.  Let's get Obama elected and also do the best we can for the environment.  Yes, we can do both, but each will take a lot of effort and a lot of care.

  by LookingUp on Mon Apr 21, 2008 at 03:58:50 PM PDT

  •  Do you really believe Obama will take on GM?

    Obama will spend money on the issue, but will he dig in and force the auto industry to go along? Or will he hold an executive retreat, hold hands and sing Kumbaya?

    Obama will take small steps in the right direction, that's all.

    by MakeChessNotWar on Mon Apr 21, 2008 at 04:05:10 PM PDT

    •  Beg to disagree. Higher (much higher) fuel effic

      stds will come out in an Obama administration, especially one where Gore is consulted and/or appointed to a high post regarding the environment.

      by True Independent on Mon Apr 21, 2008 at 04:20:13 PM PDT

    •  GM is almost irrelevant at this time

      Either they get their promised electrical car working in the near future, or they eventually go out of business.  The trend in transportation looks good after about 10 years from now in that battery and capacitor technology are developing rapidly enough for a reasonably priced fully electrical car to come along relatively soon.

      Where we need leadership is in developing a comprehensive approach to atmospheric greenhouse gas control that includes new building approaches and standard, better approaches to farming and land management, sustainable electrical energy generation and conservation based on today's technologies and those of the future.

      People are working on the basic pieces.  We just need to get them help and to organize the big picture.

      by LookingUp on Mon Apr 21, 2008 at 05:04:56 PM PDT

•  I had hoped to attend an Earth Day event at the

  university, but not gonna happen.  Too much work.

  MoveOn is having a local televised event on Thursday... won't be able to make that one either.

  Hopefully, can finally hit the UN event on Friday though, but no guarantees.

  But, I am definitely, DEFINITELY, gonna be in Columbus for Al Gore next week.

  Our... constitutional heritage rebels at the thought of giving government the power to control men's minds. Thurgood Marshall

  by bronte17 on Mon Apr 21, 2008 at 06:49:55 PM PDT