The Red Line: Climate change must be 2020’s main focus
If we’re not careful, the 2020 presidential election has the potential to be the most personality-driven race of all time. The rallying cry for anyone on what mainstream America deems to be “the left,” is to get rid of President Trump. Whether one deems that a noble task or not, “beating Trump” is not an ideology in itself. The wide array of opinions in the Democratic party has clearly manifested as many markedly different politicians have announced intent or started to run for President of the United States.
Candidates in the Democratic Party, in part because of the wider diversity in the party itself, are far more diverse in terms of policy goals than their conservative counterparts. As three years of watching Republicans in Congress fall in line has shown us, the 2016 Republican primary was a display in differences of approach, not policy. The liberal plight delves much deeper than whether or not a candidate recites George Carlin’s 7 dirty words, it extends to the planet. As the threat of climate change looms, there needs to be a way to mark politicians who are truly interested in conservation as opposed to corporatism. Right now, we’re looking at a mixed bag.
There’s Amy Klobuchar, who would be a center-right politician in most European nations next to Cory Booker, who seems to be intent to pick up where Obama left off both socially and politically. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders are the candidates farthest left, looking for substantial reforms that the Obama administration never would have dared. Oddly enough, the candidates farther to the left are also more popular, which is a rarity in the last 30 or 40 years of American politics. Still, the difference of opinion exists in the party, and that isn’t a bad thing per se. This is where we, as voters come in.
The popularity of a candidate like Sanders has raised cries of “purity tests” from the conservative wing of the Democratic Party. The story goes, “radical activists” are trying to “force the party to the left,” according to the markedly older and well off constituents who biannually vote blue. These are concerns that, in years past, may have seemed important to lend credence to. Unfortunately, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s 2018 report has changed the terms of the debate.
Vast climate action, at least on the scale of a Green New Deal, must be a “litmus test” for 2020 Democrats. There isn’t enough time on the clock left for half stepping, whether that be cap-and-trade or a meager carbon tax. Certain industries have to end and have sustainable forces rise in their place. We need to rethink transportation. At long last, we have to look at our nation’s long-neglected infrastructure. There’s no time left, and this is the party line we have to will candidates to tow. After all, that’s what democracy is all about.
Thankfully, I’m not alone in this line of thinking. “Justice Democrats and the Sunrise Movement are clear: They won’t support a candidate for president that won’t back the Green New Deal,” according to an article in Vox. The Editorial Board of the New York Times also noted that climate change will be an issue that takes center stage in 2020, instead of being relegated to the sidelines like in 2016.
Referring to the Green New Deal, they write “It has since won the full or partial allegiance of a half-dozen Democratic presidential hopefuls who pray that town hall participants or debate moderators will ask them what they think about global warming. Which in turn means that, whatever becomes of the plan, it will have moved climate change — a serious issue that has had serious trouble gaining traction — to a commanding position in the national conversation. That alone is reason to applaud it.”
If there’s any time to make a big stink about climate change, it’s now. There’s energy from activists, ambition in Congress and less time on the clock with every passing day. Democrats fear ideological purity for many reasons, some of them being quite valid. Still, regarding climate change, we’re well within our rights — and capabilities — to draw a line in the sand.
