August is supposed to be a dead month for politics, a time to
flush those irrelevant topics like whether or not our President is
a Christian, and to give some thought to substantive questions.
That is what I have been trying to do. You can judge how much
progress I have made.
August is supposed to be a dead month for politics, a time to flush those irrelevant topics like whether or not our President is a Christian, and to give some thought to substantive questions. That is what I have been trying to do. You can judge how much progress I have made.
I had this all organized in my head, until I listened to a special edition of the Charlie Rose Show dedicated to the late Tony Judt.
Judt rather jolted my thinking with his comments on our (American, European, Israeli) lack of appreciation for our recent history. He felt that we reduced most events to a few coded references: Never again, Munich, 9/11, Chernobyl. They all seem to be designed to ensure that the speaker is on the right side of an issue without taking the time to understand it.
Politicians will demagogue any issue if the words sound right and they don’t need to be very specific. Such is the case with Meg Whitman’s current campaign. She equates government regulation of industry with the loss of jobs and labels her Democratic opponent as a job killer because he would use the legal staff of the Attorney General’s office to support our existing regulations.
Maybe all of our current financial problems came about because the middle class bought homes that they could not afford; maybe the Gulf States are not suffering from the BP Oil Spill, but rather the increased regulations on drilling; maybe we get cheap eggs from Iowa because the farmers don’t have to worry about health inspections and such trivia. That is what I might have expected from an entertainer like Glenn Beck, but not from a serious candidate for elected office.
The historical facts argue that industry will do all it can to avoid any costs knowing full well that, if things get too bad, the government will always bail them out. That means cutting corners on job safety, as did BP to bring in their well faster. That means not ventilating a risky mine, as Massey Energy did not and if 28 miners died, well accidents happen and they knew it was a dangerous job … to paraphrase Kentucky GOP Senate candidate Rand Paul.
Still the one issue that has more politicians telling bigger lies, risking more in the search for another vote, than the idea of global warming.
It seems that most, if not all, Republicans running for Congress or the Senate are taking the position that man-made global warming is a plot by a group of scientists to ruin the American economy.
In most cases, we see the triumph of political ideology over science, over facts, over just about everything that would keep an oil industry executive from making more money.
California’s big issue is Proposition 23 the passage of which will ensure that no amount of climate change will threaten the energy company profitability.
While economists are beginning to talk of a “new normal” of unemployment above 5 percent, Proposition 23 would require that unemployment must drop below 5.5 percent for four consecutive quarters before this state takes any action to control global warming.
The real danger comes when ideology causes people to deny facts and to repeat often disproved statements just because they align with one’s ideology.
How much will we all have to pay to deal with the stubbornness of a few. It is so controlled that Meg Whitman and Jerry Brown will have their Green Debate without having to talk to Laura Wells, the Green Party candidate.
That, in itself, is enough to tell you that it is only about controlling the message and not worth anyone’s time to watch unless you are a political geek. I am sure that neither will produce any substantive challenges to the status quo.
Since we know that neither Brown now Whitman would agree to debate with Wells in attendance, I challenge any of the media outlets to allow Wells to comment, on air, after they have finished their little dance.
Wells made her position clear, backing a Green New Deal for California. She has studied the history of our times and unlike Whitman, Brown or Gordon Gekko, understands that greed, for lack of a better word, is not good.
For me, this will be a single issue election: climate change. No other will determine if we have a future, let alone what kind of future that might be.
I would be surprised if any other candidate took a position even close to that of Wells. If they did, I might be more positive.
Wes Rolley is a Morgan Hill artist and concerned citizen. He is Co-Chairman of the EcoAction Committee, Green Party.
