That was mostly a criticism of Republicans, who seem to be willing to latch onto any excuse to avoid dealing with this problem. And frankly some Democrats too. Properly addressing climate change is going to involve some very wealthy companies losing money, and that means there are some powerfully vested interests in making sure the problem is never addressed.
It is telling that nobody voted FOR the GND, all votes were either against or present.
To be fair, AOC knew that it would never pass, and the whole thing lacked meat. It was really just a set of objectives and probably a little overbroad (combining the climate and social justice in one package just doubles the amount of pressure against the bill. Your odds of success increase tremendously if you stay focused. This is why for example suffragettes didn’t take on issues of race or transgender problems). I hope she follows it up with some concrete and narrowly focused plans that people can really get behind.
None of that will matter if, during the next election cycle her opponent quietly points out that she didn’t accomplish anything in between all the speeches. So long AOC. I’m not pointing this out because I hate her, I’m pointing this out because there is a long track record of pulpit-pounding representatives suddenly finding themselves out of a job. No one is going to step the fuck up (members of her party or no) if she’s doing a bang-up job being the first penguin at the edge of the iceberg, jumping in to check for sea lions.
Well, I guess it would make a change from right-wing assholes finding a clip of her saying something 100% accurate and claiming that. (The self-owns by these dudes, in relation to her, is amazing.)
Yeah. She made a point about flooding in NE, IA, etc. but she could have mentioned the crazily high cancer clusters in gulf coast LA and TX near the refineries, other places that Republicans live, etc. I’m sure that Duffy’s constituents live in an ecosystem, too.
But considering this was all off the cuff she did pretty good.
I don’t know if you know her district well, but as long as she keeps bringing that Neuyorican heat, she’s going to be there for a while.
But seriously and to your broader point, take a look at the Democratic primary field right now. The ones who are getting the most attention and polling the highest are saying things that were considered outrageously “leftist” three years ago. Then came Bernie and blew up everyone’s expectations of what was acceptable to Democratic voters. As a junior member of the lower house she has very little power, but her influence over the process is already resembling a bully pulpit. It may take time, but if she keeps at it the party will follow.
I just keep telling myself all these “old guard” politicians will be dead soon, but it’s really a race against time at this point… will they kick off before things are too bad to fix.
Important reminder, this man was literally the last hold-out on passing federal assistance to Flint, MI and tried to prevent that knowledge leaking to the media.
Y’all can support AOC and others in the House & Senate who are trying to get action on GND by getting involved with the Sunrise Movement. @sunrisemvmt on all your major social media:
The oil and gas lobby will always have more money than us for PR stunts and bogus studies. But they will never be able to move people by the millions to secure a just and equitable future for all. So we’re asking you to join us on the #Road2GND tour http://sunrisemovement.org/tour
The Republican Party’s thought is that the Green New Deal is so insane that the responses can be what they perceive as equally ridiculous. They feel they don’t have to justify it with any meaningful response. It’s a complete disconnect for them.
They believe that climate change is not real. They believe the market and corporations know best. They believe that any change to that system is a Trojan horse. That all democrats must be in the pocket of big solar, big battery and the carbon recapture lobbies. Why wouldn’t they be?
I occasionally espouse an opinion that goes against the grain around here, and me saying “AOC may not get re-elected because angry yelling” generally earns one the stinkeye.
In a strange and roundabout way that I doubt the gop understands, the solution IS to have more babies.
MMT describes the idea that the government can spend as much as it wants UNTIL that money plus private spending would require more resources than the country can produce. Having more babies means more deficit spending could take place than otherwise.
Of course…people have to be able to afford to have babies… That’s a problem at the moment
My standard answer now for anyone who lazily flies the “Who’s going to pay for it?” canard is to reply, “Anyone who asks how we’re going to pay for it.”
