JONATHAN CHAIT SEPTEMBER 30, 2010
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In the middle of an op-ed making what's quickly becoming the standard-issue left-wing election interpretation -- Democrats lost because they wimped out on popular liberal issues -- Markos Moulitsas makes this point about climate change:
On global warming legislation, a Gallup poll for USA Today in June found that 56 percent of Americans favored “Regulat[ing] energy output from private companies in an attempt to reduce global warming,” while 40 percent opposed. Democrats did nothing.
They didn't do nothing. They announced a plan to regulate greenhouse gasses! Now, it's true that they didn't pass cap and trade legislation, but cap and trade legislation isn't popular.
This is another example of liberals treating climate change as an issue they've lost on when, in fact, there's a pretty decent shot at victory. On the transportation side, the Obama administration has proposed tougher auto mileage standards, and passed some funding for electric battery research. On the energy generation side, the EPA is going to start regulating carbon emissions, unless the emitters and conservatives in Congress can stop them. This is going to be one of the most important fights of the Obama administration, and it's odd how many liberals act as though it's already been lost.
2 comments
I'm beginning to think that liberals are wusses. We don't seem to know how to fight/work for what we want. Compounding the problem - there's a polarity within the Democratic Party. We have on the one hand Limousine Liberals who have the means to devote time and money to the cause(s), but they by definition are part of "the establishment;" how likely are they really, when it comes down to it, to struggle against BP? Probably their stock portfolios are flush with oil company stocks, they sit on corporate boards, so forth (or maybe I'm wrong?) On the other hand a lot of us are poor, or young, or members of minority communities and already have our hands full just surviving. So we lack the power to enact change. We blog, we vote, we complain, but beyond that we are not a powerful element within the established pecking order. I agree we could do more via pressure on our Congresspeople and the Administration - but besides writing letters and so forth exactly what are we supposed to do? Further, a lot of people who probably empathize with the liberals on global warming and the need for change regarding energy would be impacted the most by it - increased taxes on gasoline for example would hurt the lower income people badly, disproportionately in relation to the rich or even what's now defined as "middle class." So, what do you guys suggest?
- Sophia
September 30, 2010 at 3:59pm
The problem isn't that liberals are pansies, Sophia, it is that all too many are dyspeptic and truculent. The Daily Kos is a nostril-flaring liberal who is not exactly closely acquainted with policy. We need more intelligence and loyalty and high-stepping on the left. Will we get it, though? No, I'm afraid.
- liberal reformer
September 30, 2010 at 4:20pm