Why is our democracy broken? Because Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton fair and square according to the rules of the game. So, of course
Will our broken democracy fail the climate test?
We have entered a pivotal period in American history, one that will tell whether our arthritic, not-so-representative democracy can respond to the critical challenge of the 21st century.
That, of course, is climate change. The world faces a well-known, well-researched, well-documented, and increasingly evident peril from the human-caused warming of the planet. We need large reductions of carbon-dioxide emissions by 2030. And yet, in the last two-and-a-half years, the United States has gone from a global leader on the issue to a laggard whose gridlocked government simply ignores the problem.
Events in recent days underscore the see-no-warming, hear-no-warning nature of our government. Fewer than three years ago, we had, in Barack Obama and John Kerry, a president and secretary of state who helped lead the world to adopt the Paris Agreement, a hopeful if not wholly adequate step to stave off the worst effects of climate change. But Donald Trump is pulling us out of that landmark pact and, as Foreign Policy reports, has put us on the sidelines in the United Nations’ planning for a fall summit on climate matters.
That would be the pact that was a) voluntary, and b) crafted to avoid the need for elected U.S. lawmakers to vote on it, right? Anyhow, after much whining about Trump Trump Trump
And yet, it’s still acceptable in Republican circles to put off action with vapid and easily refutable deflections: There is no consensus on human-caused climate change; or the climate has changed before, and this is nothing different; or, there was once a magazine article about global cooling, so today’s scientists shouldn’t be believed; or even, carbon dioxide can’t be contributing to global warming because human beings emit it when they exhale. Which is why a Republican government, led by a denialist president who didn’t win the popular vote and abettedby a small-minded coal-state senator, twiddles while the globe burns.
We have a broad national consensus about the problem and the need for change. We have policy tools. We have viable energy alternatives. What we lack are federal leaders ready to act. If we can’t produce them in the 2020 election, our system will have proved itself too dysfunctional to contend with the threat we face.
See? If Republicans who refuse to be members of the Cult of Climastrology win, well, that means Democracy is broken! You know what’s really broken?
Oops: Sustainability evangelist says she drives a fossil-fueled vehicle because she can't find an electric vehicle big enough for her family of FIVE KIDS. https://t.co/q5Rs8Wk5X3
— Tom Nelson (@TomANelson) May 10, 2019
It would be the Cult of Climastrology, chock full of people who refuse to practice what they preach, but happy to attempt to get government to force you to make changes.
