Warning: this diary will most likely make some of you unhappy. It swims against a very strong tide here which is both anti-Bernie and even more strongly anti-anything which might be different from ‘Blue no matter who’. But what I write below needs to be said. And, I have yet to see it said here. I’ve remarked upon it in a few comments I’ve made, but it needs to be amplified while there’s still time. So, though, for a diary writer, I’m a pretty good mathematician, I’m going to write a blog entry in the hopes of doing just that. Here it is:
Beating Trump in the fall is necessary, but, I no longer believe that it is sufficient. A little over a year ago, the Intergovernmental Panel warned us that we have precious little time left — 10 years, maybe less — to save human civilization. In order to do that we must take not only not only swift,but radical action. In spite of that, greenhouse gas emissions, both worldwide and domestically once again reached record highs and are likely on pace to do the same in 2020.
The Sunrise Movement rated the climate plans and related priorities of the Democratic Candidates who remained in the race at the time. Bernie Sanders’ plan was given 183 points out of 200. This was the highest rating given. And as a result, Bernie was also endorsed by the group. Joe Biden was given the lowest — 75 out of 200. Although Biden’s website, and, Biden himself, says he takes the climate emergency seriously, Biden’s actual plan sets very soft targets and sets them in the too distant future. He will allow fossil fuels to power our electric grid, doesn’t seem too worried about fracking, etc. etc. And this is his plan. If this is his opening offer in negotiations, I hate to see what we’ll end up with. (If, for whatever reasons, you don’t like the Sunrise Movement, here’s some name-brand MIT scientists saying roughly the same thing)
Most of the folks on here and those who voted last Tuesday seem to be almost exclusively concerned with beating Donald Trump. And, of course, we must. But, this is not an election in which ‘better than the other guy’ is going to cut it. I have children. They will likely be alive to see the most cataclysmic effects of our failure to take sufficient steps. We aren’t working on a spectrum anymore. This is a situation in which doing our best is no longer going to be good enough. We must, as Winston Churchill said during a similarly perilous moment in history, do what is required.
I’m not positive even Bernie’s plan goes far enough, but it at least has a chance of being sufficient and there is almost no doubt that Biden’s does not (see the Sunrise scorecard for all the details, but, suffice to say here that any plan which allows for fracking and doesn’t address important, relevant sectors of the economy ain’t gonna save us). Biden’s plan sets 2050 as its principle target. The IPCC tells us that that is 20 years too late. If Biden is the nominee, as now seems likely, I will abandon electoral politics — at least at the national level — as a mechanism for change, and focus on other means to do what must be done. Because it will be evident that the Party and its standard bearer are not willing to.
In the past, I’ve sucked it up and voted Blue in every Presidential general since 1984 (the first Presidential year I could vote….) and, with the exception of 2008, I’ve had to vote for someone mainly because, well, at least they’re better than (fill in the blank Republican). And most of the time that disappointment was compounded by watching the Republican, who actually inspired enthusiasm among his voters and base, win, anyway.
In any of those previous years, I’d have sucked it up and voted for Joe. Heck, I actually like the VP. This diary is not about that, though. It’s not about who I like or whose supporters I like. It’s about my children, and, if you have them, yours. Heck if you plan on being around in 20 years or so, it’s about you, too. And it’s about everyone else — most, if not all, of the whole damn human race (and millions of other species, too) There’s lots of comments on this site mocking Republicans for not believing in science. But if you don’t take action in accord with scientific recommendations, ‘believing’ in science or not is a distinction with no difference.
It’s time to take action; to make that difference. Since the candidates’ climate policy proposals were made public, I’ve been a Sanders supporter. I’ve volunteered, contributed and, last Tuesday, voted for Senator Sanders. I hope that, for the sake of our collective futures, you’ll join me going forward.