Earlier today, we looked at David Graham’s assertion that the Democratic Party is now the conservative party. He didn’t talk about the single most important issue facing Americans (and mankind): Climate. I suppose he can claim that wanting to “conserve” the ability of humanity to live on the planet is conservative. But somehow, the desire to deal with the impending disaster has been embraced by progressives while sticking their heads up their asses and waiting for doom has been the posture of Conservatives.
The special election to fill David Cicilline’s seat in Rhode Island is coming right up. The front-runner, in a field of corporate conservatives, is progressive Aaron Regunberg. The very first line on his website is a repudiation of Graham’s theory: “Together, we can address the climate crisis, stand up for a woman's right to choose, take on the gun industry, and stop Big Pharma, Big Banks, and Big Oil from ripping us off.” Regunberg’s campaign is a definition of progressivism— and activism.
When you examine why he’s running, you conclude that tackling Climate is foundational. His website states that “The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its final warning in March: if we don’t start taking urgent action to address the climate crisis, humanity will be permanently locked into a dangerous and frightening future. Climate change threatens to bring worse floods, more droughts, bigger wildfires, lower agricultural yields, and worse storms. These damages will bring food insecurity, displace communities, spark conflicts, and make regions uninhabitable if we do not rapidly transition away from dirty fuels. Aaron has been fighting for climate action for many years. In the General Assembly, he helped create new renewable energy and community solar programs here in Rhode Island. As a new lawyer, he has worked with the Sierra Club and the Center for Climate Integrity to support litigation holding fossil fuel corporations accountable for their decades of climate deception. And as a candidate for Congress, Aaron’s first act was to sign the Green New Deal Pledge to support bold climate action and refuse to take money from the oil and gas industry.”
Does that sound like he’s running to be part of a “conservative party? Does this? “Aaron is ready to take on Big Oil in Congress. He will support efforts to end federal subsidies for the fossil fuel industry. He will fight expansions of fossil fuel infrastructure that we know are incompatible with a livable future. He will push for financial regulations and other policies to ensure banks and the Federal Reserve are adequately accounting for the severe risk that climate change poses to our financial system. He will continue working to cast a spotlight on the decades of climate deception the fossil fuel industry engaged in, and he will fight to make sure these corporations pay our communities for the damage they have caused. He will advocate for climate justice initiatives that put the people and communities who are most vulnerable to climate disasters at the center of our policy solutions. And he will champion Green New Deal legislation to create millions of good-paying union jobs transitioning our economy away from fossil fuels and toward wind, solar, geothermal, and other clean energy sources.” Want to help make sure he’s elected and not some corporate shill for Big Oil? Please consider a contribution to his campaign here.
Aaron’s right at the heart of the Bernie Sanders school of progressive activism; nothing to do with conservative politics. In fact, Bernie was on the same page yesterday in an OpEd he wrote for The Guardian urging Congress to act on climate now. Here are a few excerpts:
Over last few weeks we’ve gotten a glimpse of what this dystopian future could look like. The unprecedented forest fires in Quebec, preceded by massive fires in Nova Scotia, British Columbia and Alberta, have resulted in dangerously unhealthy air all across the United States. New York, Washington DC, Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee and other cities have reported some of their worst air quality levels ever as people with chronic illness have been forced to remain indoors. Meanwhile, during this same period, Texas has experienced a record-breaking heat wave. In Corpus Christi the heat index, a measure of temperature combined with humidity, reached 125F– close to the level at which humans are able to survive.
As a result of long-standing drought six western states that rely on water from the Colorado River have recently agreed to dramatically cut their water use. That river, which provides water for 40 million people and a $5 trillion-a-year agricultural industry, is drying up. The state of Arizona recently restricted future home-building in the Phoenix area due to a lack of groundwater, based on projections showing that wells will run dry under existing conditions.
…It is no great secret that human beings are not particularly anxious to address painful realities– especially when it requires taking on powerful special interests like the fossil fuel industry. This time we must.
Our Earth is warming rapidly. We see this every day in every part of the world.
Drought, floods, forest fires and extreme weather disturbances are increasing. We see this every day in every part of the world.
Hunger, disease and human migrations are increasing. We see this every day in every part of the world.
Instead of denying this obvious reality, instead of doing the bidding of oil and coal companies, instead of fomenting a new cold war with China, members of Congress must develop an unprecedented sense of urgency about this global crisis. We must bring the world together NOW to address this existential threat. Failure to act will doom future generations to a very uncertain future. For the sake of our common humanity we cannot allow that to happen.
If that’s conservatism, sign me right up. Otherwise… there’s this. Because this is not a time to sit back and congratulate ourselves for what has been accomplished in the name of progressivism or to merely fight to protect some kind of half-baked status quo.