Disturbing Omission from DNC Platform Drafting Committee Survey: Climate Change
After reading underwriter505's first essay here, I was dismayed to discover that the DNC Platform Drafting Committee sent two emails requesting feedback from Democratic party members on issues to be addressed by the party's platform. One email was just a brief notice from the DNC that "had one small box for me to put my thoughts into."
The other was an email sent by Keith Ellison, one of the members of the DNC Platform Committee (he was a pick of Bernie Sanders). His missive was a little bit longer, but here are the issues he listed for which he requested feedback (as well as all of one's contact info), and specifically the recipient's priorities from among a a drop-down menu of issues:
Raising the minumum wage
Civil rights
Making college more affordable
Protecting women's health care choices
Immigration reform
Protecting and expanding Social Security
Overturning Citizens United
Reducing economic equality
Wall Street accountability and consumer protection
Common-sense gun reform
Affordable housing
Criminal justice reform
Other
Now these are all valid matters worthy of the Democratic Party's careful consideration as it drafts its proposed party platform, and I don't wish the disparage the importance of any of them. However, there is one glaring omission from this list. Can you guess what it is?
Answer: CLIMATE CHANGE
I suppose one could argue the "Other' category is adequate, but I personally don't find that Rep. Ellison's failure to list Climate Change among the issues that Democrats are being asked to prioritize was a very smart move. Indeed, I consider it disturbing considering that nine out of ten of the hottest years on record have occurred since 2005, with the two hottest years being 2014 and 2015. And 2016 is shaping up as a the likely new Numero Uno on that list, based on the number of record hottest months already.
So, forgive me if I find the lack of interest in this issue - well - a big effing deal. Here's just a few things the DNC ought to be considering including in their party's Platform regarding Climate Change:
1. Ban Fracking.
2. End the huge subsidies that benefit fossil fuel companies.
3. Create a national environmental and climate justice plan that recognizes the heightened public health risks faced by low-income and minority communities.
4. Department of Justice investigation into Exxon Mobil and other fossil fuel companies, which not only knew about the dangers of climate change, but spent millions of dollars to spread doubt about the causes and impacts of burning fossil fuels.
5. Adopt an immediate clean energy initiative to replace fossil fuels while creating millions of new jobs by investing in renewable energy technologies.
6. Promote Conservation, including upgrading the nation's electricity grid so less energy is lost in transmission.
7. Provide subsidies to consumers and businesses that convert to the use to wind solar or other forms of renewable energy technology. For example, support solar net metering, which means that people who invest in solar should be able to offset the cost – or in some cases even make money – on their electric utility bill.
8. Pass the Low Income Solar Act to increase low-income families’ access to solar energy by making it more affordable for people who own their own home to get access to community solar projects.
9. Make residential and commercial buildings more energy efficient, by passing the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP), the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP), and the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) and the Residential Energy Savings Act to provide federal loans to states to perform energy efficiency updates.
10. Build electric vehicle charging stations and subsidize electric motor vehicles.
11. Build high-speed passenger and cargo rail to reduce carbon emissions.
And that's just a short list of some of the things we should be advocating to reduce carbon emissions and protect the planet.
Maybe someone could let the DNC and Rep. Ellison know that Climate Change better be a priority for the Democratic Party if we hope to create a sustainable world in which we, our children and grandchildren can continue to live and thrive.
Comments
Well Said n/t
The more people I meet, the more I love my cats.
No way Hillary or the DNC wants to:
overturn Citizens United.
And no health care included in his list.
I'm not filling it out and giving up my information. That's really all they want. They don't really care what you care about.
Giving up your info is like paying for the privilege
of pissing into the wind.
I completed the form
and told them to adopt Bernie's platform. Period. Otherwise, they can forget they know me. I can block their emails.
"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11
Uh, are we going to just pretend two wars aren't happening?
I know the Media does, but you'd think a major political party...
Oh wait, they want to gear up for another one, I remember.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZr07AYWLSo]
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
Three if you count the Drug War
which I do.
"You can't just leave those who created the problem in charge of the solution."---Tyree Scott
Happy to be in a Demilitarized Zone on that one.
At least until the Democrats decide to shore up some Rethug Votes by invading Oregon with the DEA.
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
Can we get a list of the 3?
I'm confused.
I'm down with the Drug War as #1, Afghanistan #2, especially with big pharma's oxy glut muscling out the opium trade, and somewhat severing the connection between the two. Any US activity in Columbia, can just be part of #1, even if it does concern oil rather than coke. The spice must flow.
Is #3 the Iraq war against ISIS? and is it then distinct from the war against Syria, where they are more like unacknowledged allies? I can see counting the drone murders in Pakistan under #2, but Yemen? Can we get #4 as general drone terror? I guess the whole point of covert wars in Iran or Ukraine is they don't get on lists like this...
#3
War in the middle east/war on terror that has never ended, and got worse under Obama.
I Chose Other and wrote in Climate Change
Well, my first pick was Overturning Citizens United, and put details of campaign finance, voter suppression and election fraud. I said this was only first because we can't fix anything until elections reflect the will of the people.
Then for my second choice I put Climate Change.
Another reason to vote Green
At least they are paying attention.
We can’t save the world by playing by the rules, because the rules have to be changed.
- Greta Thunberg
I am in a grim mood.
So the Democrats think it's fine to just throw in the towel? Why not dump the coffers to every American and tell them to have a good time until we all die?
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
Not to worry
as they believe there's plenty of time to fix the climate.
Just look at all the wonderful things the Paris agreement will accomplish. Fracking is wonderful as it takes us off of oil. Fracking in the ocean is even better as nobody can see or smell it while they pump millions of gallons of saltwater and other creature friendly chemicals into the earth.
It all makes it easier for me to tell others, and make them understand, that they shouldn't have children. We needed immediate action to save any hope of a safe place for future generations and it's not going to happen.
Oh well. Maybe those who believe that aliens will be stupid enough show us how to fix things will be raptured soon.
Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.
That shaking from me isn't laughter.
It's sobbing.
I don't mind the DNC having my contact info
If they give me a SASE I write why I am disgruntled with them and then list the Dem candidates that I do contribute to.
I am sure that they throw them away but they cannot say I didn't warn them.
Not Sure I Can Take Much More
Under Clinton or Trump the CLIMATE is toast,
and so are we.
"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"
That Platform 'thing'
is just a shiny object to wave in front of the committed and their Hillary banners in Philadelphia.
It could promise a chicken in every pot, every Sunday and Wednesday, gratis. And Hillary would just cackle, watching with her monied friends from on high.
Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.
Bernie is most powerful person in world right now
Bernie Sanders is the most powerful person in world right now. He will select the next president of the USA. Forget about the platform. He can demand REAL change.
Where's that picture
of those hoity-toitys watching the goings-on in Zucotti Park during OWS from their balcony when you need one? You know the one, they were actually drinking champagne and looking down....
Damn, I'll have to look for that....later....
How many divisions does the platform have? (n/t)
The problem of course is that the two parties of capital
will have to admit at some point that none of their fantasies of climate change mitigation, or even for that matter of how the problem will just go away if we leave it off the platform, has anything to do with physical climate change mitigation.
This diary and a number of others also point to something personal, for me: why it's been so hard for me to participate in the Bernie campaign outside of giving them money and displaying Bernie's name on my truck's bumpersticker. I can understand why they're trying to behave like good Democratic Party members and all, but I can't really do it myself. And, as for the Democratic Party convention, well...
“When there's no fight over programme, the election becomes a casting exercise. Trump's win is the unstoppable consequence of this situation.” - Jean-Luc Melanchon
It points out mostly
that despite occasional noises when the GOP holds the Oval Office, the two parties differ on very little.
"You can't just leave those who created the problem in charge of the solution."---Tyree Scott
One of MY favorite bumper stickers says, simply
Ralph was Right.
And he was. My fave quote of his (and now it appears like an anachronism, they're more than equal now):
"The only difference between the Republican and Democratic parties is the velocities with which their knees hit the floor when corporations knock on their door. That's the only difference."
War and imperialism isn't a glaring omission?
I agree about climate change but come on, I don't get it. All the more reason to boycott the democratic party. How on earth can people agree that raising the minimum wage is more important than stopping U.S. imperialism? I understand why the dumbocratic party doesn't list it, it is a war party, but I'm constantly amazed at progressives for leaving it off their lists.
The people are being bled financially for both empire and the 1%
Enough trillions have vanished into Middle East desert sands, into the pockets of corrupt defense contractors, and into the coffers of “moderate” sectarian death squads.
If Goldman Sachs is a vampire squid, the war industrial complex is its twin. Its blood funnel builds bases and “lily pads” and sends “special forces” everywhere the global natural-resource gamers smell money.
Choose life. Stop feeding and growing America’s planet-encircling war machine. Cut the Department of Death budget. Redirect the released resources to infrastructure investment and remediation at home.
not that it means anything, but
on the topic of "Raising the Minimum Wage" is there anything substantial to it or just happy talk? Even Obama supports "raising the minimum wage" - to $10.10. Incrementally, of course.
Anything in there about paying a living wage? tied to inflation? Adjustments for local cost of living? ($15/hr goes a lot further in Cleveland than it does in NYC.)
Not worth getting all exercised about, since the platform means diddly squat anyway. On the other hand, since it is worthless and unenforceable, they could at least make the right noises.
You keep using that word...
Bill McKibben
is also on the platform committee (one of Bernie's picks), so I am sure Climate Change will be well covered even if Ellison didn't think of it.
Had some tweets with Keith Ellison tonight
https://twitter.com/StevenDBT/status/740717240576815104
Hope he fixes that.
https://twitter.com/StevenDBT/status/740723161898078208
"You can't just leave those who created the problem in charge of the solution."---Tyree Scott
"Reducing economic equality"
From Ellisons drop down list; Freudian slip or typo?
I sure hope it's a typo.
Agreeing with your main point however, if we don't address the climate change issue post haste, none of the other worthy goals we might begin working toward will mean a damn thing to anyone a few short decades from now.
Just trying to stay alive on our severely overpopulated and abused planet will the only issue.
“ …and when we destroy nature, we diminish our capacity to sense the divine,and understand who God is, and what our own potential is and duties are as human beings.- RFK jr. 8/26/2024
Ellisons list had it "Reducing economic Inequality"
The author of this blog post on Ellison's list:
http://www.politicsplus.org/blog/2016/06/07/survey-dnc-platform-drafting...
...appears to have a typo that needs fixing.
“ …and when we destroy nature, we diminish our capacity to sense the divine,and understand who God is, and what our own potential is and duties are as human beings.- RFK jr. 8/26/2024
I doubt the platform will mean anything, Obama's
didn't. He campaigned on one set of promises and governed on another.
Climate Change & energy policy is not an issue. It is THE issue.
Unfortunately, the Clinton team isn't inclined to do much about it -- which, I have freely admitted to anyone who has asked over the last 9 months, why I have supported Bernie Sanders with heart, body and soul, as well as my wallet.
But, as for the platform committee, it's Katy bar the doors, because we are forcing our way in. At the platform committee's forum in Washington DC this afternoon, the issue was raised by one witness/supplicant and a couple of people on the panel acknowledged that and thanked her for it.
Bernie Sanders picked Bill McKibben to be one of his 5 representatives on the platform committee. There can be only one reason for picking McKibben, and that's his unparalleled profile on climate change and fracking. It was a signal to the Party that Sanders will be pushing to have climate change be a key piece of the platform discussion. In his introductory remark, McKibben noted that the meeting was taking place amid the warmest year on record. On the Clinton side, there is also Carol Browner, who served as Pres. Obama's point person on climate policy, which she proudly trumpeted in her introduction. There can be little doubt that the platform process will produce a very strong statement on climate change, regardless of how much Clinton has received from the fossil fuel industry.
Everything before that is a kabuki perhaps meant to distance the candidate from the discussion, but there will be a claer statement by the Party itself. If there's one thing I am confident about in the platform process, this is it.
Representing the 99% at the Dem Nat'l Convention in Philly.
Didn't David Koch contribute to Hillary's campaign?
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
Also missing in action: Universal Health Coverage
The only mention to health care is protecting women's health care choices, which we know is about reproductive health and abortion. Nothing there about a broader concern for providing health care beyond those areas.
Since I'm assuming this really came from the DNC, rather than Rep. Ellison, I'm less concerned that this reflects badly on the Sanders' effort. But, it does reflect where Clinton's focus-group tested, corporate donor approved priorities lie.
Representing the 99% at the Dem Nat'l Convention in Philly.
Thanks Steven,
I would add a 12) Institute a nationwide carbon tax with a hard cap on CO2 emissions.
Transparency? Civil *liberties* (privacy, 4th Amendment)?
Net neutrality? Protecting whistleblowers? Abolishing “civil forfeiture”? Strengthening the Freedom of Information Act? Financial transaction tax?
End or at least audit and curb the Fed and its twelve privately-owned regional district banks? Have the Treasury create debt-free money instead of the debt-encumbered money created by the Federal Reserve?
End the revolving door between government and industry. Shut down the corrupt career shuttle whose stations are government office, corporate law, and influence-peddling lobbyist.