The Democratic Party's leadership has now officially become an obstacle to sound climate policy. This Buzzfeed story has the important facts—maybe not all the facts, but it tells the story more clearly than any other I have seen thus far. Prog Twitter is articulately making its collective displeasure known as well.
Considering that I haven't considered myself a Democrat in nearly a quarter-century, and considering that I was expecting the resolution to be voted down, I'm probably more miffed about this than I should be. It's less about the vote itself than the fact that millions of self-identified Progressives (and even Radicals) will still cling to the Democrats because the Republicans are so much worse.
Considering that I haven't considered myself a Democrat in nearly a quarter-century, and considering that I was expecting the resolution to be voted down, I'm probably more miffed about this than I should be. It's less about the vote itself than the fact that millions of self-identified Progressives (and even Radicals) will still cling to the Democrats because the Republicans are so much worse.
1. The DNC voted against holding a climate debate even though Democratic voters and all the major Democratic candidates wanted one.
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) August 26, 2019
It raises serious questions about corporate influence on the party apparatus.
Let's follow the money.https://t.co/ukyoqbwABd
This entry continues what has turned into a series of posts here: see Part I and Part II. While the 222-137 vote by the Democratic National Committee appears to be the final nail in the coffin for a climate-focused presidential debate, the Sunrise Movement will keep on agitating. For what it's worth, I foresee Sunrisers who haven't already given up on the Democratic Party as an electoral option doing so soon, but they won't give up on their push for meaningful climate action.
Even as a Green, it gives me somewhat truncated joy that some knowledgeable, eloquent, influential young people we take the Green Pill. (Sunrise is non-partisan, so the organization as a whole cannot say, "Fuck the Democrats, vote Green.") It's truncated by the hard fact that the critical mass of voters required to force a quantum jump that makes the Green Party a real force nationwide is measured in the millions, if not tens of millions.
It will not require that these millions have a simultaneous Green epiphany; it will likely begin with just a few popular policy-makers and pundits switching their already tenuous allegiance publicly and loudly. But it will take more years than climate reality affords us, given the Democratic Party's inertia and addiction to corporate contributions.
Despite all the prognosticating above, right now I'm even more completely done with Tom Perez than I was before the weekend. I'm done with the 222. I'm done with any of the 137 who don't bolt from the DNC and the Democratic Party on principle. AOC and The Squad will continue working within the Donkey Pen, trying to a reform a party that has anti-reform language in its bylaws; as I've stated before, the party that treats them as centrist Democrats have does not deserve to keep them.
UPDATE: Green presidential candidate Howie Hawkins has signed Sunrise's No Fossil Fuel Money pledge—which, for a Green candidate, is a no-brainer, but it's nice to have it in writing.
Even as a Green, it gives me somewhat truncated joy that some knowledgeable, eloquent, influential young people we take the Green Pill. (Sunrise is non-partisan, so the organization as a whole cannot say, "Fuck the Democrats, vote Green.") It's truncated by the hard fact that the critical mass of voters required to force a quantum jump that makes the Green Party a real force nationwide is measured in the millions, if not tens of millions.
It will not require that these millions have a simultaneous Green epiphany; it will likely begin with just a few popular policy-makers and pundits switching their already tenuous allegiance publicly and loudly. But it will take more years than climate reality affords us, given the Democratic Party's inertia and addiction to corporate contributions.
Despite all the prognosticating above, right now I'm even more completely done with Tom Perez than I was before the weekend. I'm done with the 222. I'm done with any of the 137 who don't bolt from the DNC and the Democratic Party on principle. AOC and The Squad will continue working within the Donkey Pen, trying to a reform a party that has anti-reform language in its bylaws; as I've stated before, the party that treats them as centrist Democrats have does not deserve to keep them.
UPDATE: Green presidential candidate Howie Hawkins has signed Sunrise's No Fossil Fuel Money pledge—which, for a Green candidate, is a no-brainer, but it's nice to have it in writing.
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