Ever since I first heard "Santa Claus is Coming to Town, the lyric "He's making a list and checking it twice; gonna find out who's naughty and nice," has been a Christmas music earworm stuck in my head. As an adult, however, it nags at me more during presidential election campaigns, when the naughty and nice begin to show themselves.
I dread the endless political circus as much as most people, but the long process has a very significant upside. Much like sifting sand through a sieve, the smaller particles fall through the holes while the bigger rocks remain. With more shaking, tenacity and integrity are tested, and we can better see cracks or fractures in those still hanging on. Unfortunately in our instant gratification world, that sorting can take some time and people get impatient. But a good shake test should be the essence of campaigns.
CNN's seven hours of interviews with 10 Democratic candidates in September focused on climate change. It exposed candidates' differences and how they think, weigh and understand humanity's greatest challenge.
The Democratic Party's power brokers have only begrudgingly acknowledged climate change, but since the topic seems to have finally made The Top 10 issues lists, CNN chose to step in where the DNC feared to tread. That allotment of prime time showed more media respect for the survival of the human species than any televised political discussions in my memory. And, the candidates' answers enabled those who have enough familiarity with environmental conditions to judge these individuals on two major counts. The first and most important scrutiny is that which is felt in the gut. Either a candidate "gets it" or they don't. This "it" is the environmental comprehension that we're in a world of hurt.
The second telltale result garnered during those interviews was seeing the depth of knowledge the candidates have on what's really going on from the top of corporate control of our environment to the bottom of the grass roots affected by and struggling under that control. Each contestant has their strong suit, the knowledge base they feel most comfortable coming back to, of course. But, how they will carry through on environmental issues if elected takes not only listening to their positions now, but in knowing their history.
There are connections linking oil and gas production to climate change and carbon dioxide, to fossil fuel trading across oceans and continents, to the oil protection wars our country sends our soldiers to die in, to chemical and plastic industries that poison air, water, land, oceans and living organisms (including us). These connections all lead to the bottom lines of health, social justice, living wages, crime, education, etc. If a candidate doesn't see those links or is one of fossil fuel's bought politicians, they'll not lead us to solutions.
We rarely think of our political parties as private corporations run like businesses to supply us with a product at election time. The parties' not-so-democratically run executive boards use their rules to manipulate our eventual two choices, one wrapped in red and one in blue. So far there's been no viable green party, since outsiders rarely can dent the two-party monopoly of politics.
There have been bright and shiny newbies, showing up on the national stage for numerous personal, professional and political reasons. And, there are older warriors who've seen a lot, but who also know a lot. The three highest-polling Dems so far -- Sanders, Warren, and Biden -- have all issued climate plans, which all say good stuff on paper. But it's trusting their follow-through, if elected, that has me worried.
Snippets of Sanders' history of commitment are best viewed on a short YouTube video called "30 Years of Speeches by Bernie Sanders." My first introduction to Warren was a 2004 interview she did with Bill Moyers, a program also easily found online. Biden is dismissive of the urgency of environmental solutions and cut it with me early on when he said there is a middle ground to be found on climate. Too late, Joe. We've been stuck in muddle ground for decades, and Biden has been in positions of power that whole time. He's had his chance.
Voters need to know at least one issue in enough depth to be good judges of these people. Find the one who's not desperate enough to take money from PACs or corporate donors. Find the one with your values and with integrity. Find the one with empathy and compassion. Then give them your all-out effort.
Commentary on 10/29/2019