Many of you have probably heard of Beto’s climate change plan. Gov. Inslee also has a good plan, and I think all of our candidates are on the right side of this issue (though with so many, I admit I don’t know the positions of everyone).
But I think it is going to be important to go beyond any plan regardless of candidate and use grassroots organizing and campaigning to build public support. And this is where Beto continues to impress me.
As a former Texan and current recent Washingtonian, I am happy to live in such a green state now (props and credit to Gov. Inslee). However, it came as both a massive disappointment and a complete shock to me when the Washington state ballot initiative for carbon tax failed in liberal, green Washington. Yes, there was a massive TV ad campaign against it and only a few TV ads for it, so maybe I shouldn’t have been so surprised. In hindsight, however, I didn’t observe any grassroots campaigning for it-- maybe there was and if so my apologies to those who put in the hard grassroots work.
At least in my mind, it got me thinking that any climate change goals or plans of anyone out there to have a chance for success is going to need massive grassroots effort and campaigning to get public support.
This article from Iowa talks about a recent Beto visit but focused on how he reached out to farmers to listen and discuss how they can be a big part of the solution with regard to climate change.
https://www.adelnews.com/news/20190507/orourke-addresses-agriculture-climate-change-issues-during-adel-visit
I know sometimes on dkos there is debate on reaching out to rural America but as long as values are not being compromised, I think it’s fantastic for candidates to welcome input and dialogue on issues such as climate change. I think we need to reach out and bring as many people as possible along for support.
Beto’s campaign has also really ramped up its canvassing nationwide (from scrolling through the upcoming canvas events on his website, I even saw one for American Samoa!) and starting around early May, the campaign has been encouraging volunteers to do a climate canvas (though regular all issues canvases are still an option). Regardless of who is nominated, it can only help to have all of these face-to-face climate conversations.
Anyway, I was pleasantly shocked how Beto took stands on issues that were thought to be political suicide in Texas (climate change, gun-control, pro-choice, marijuana legalization, spoke out against police violence, etc.) And through relentless grassroots organizing in every county suddenly these weren’t politically crazy positions for a candidate in Texas. So I am pleased, regardless of if he ends up the nominee, that he is doing the same nationally particularly with the climate change focus.