7 September 2019 — 1619 mdt
Democrats will not win votes with green sanctimony
Plastic straws are neither environmental abominations, nor on the basis of mass, a significant component of plastic litter. They are, however, colorful, frivolous in the eyes of some, and an easy target for crusaders who want to save the planet (and sometimes raise money) by eliminating what some call a “gateway plastic.” Hence, campaigns — often conducted with children out front — to ban plastic straws. One reached Montana’s legislature this year, where it died in the MT Senate’s Business, Economics, and Economic Affairs Committee.
Thus it was no surprise that earlier this week, notes David M. Perry, when CNN’s reporters, always seeking a sensational sound bite, provided Democratic candidates opportunities to make fools of themselves on the issue, some candidates obliged:
Since at least the 1970s, environmentalists have been telling Americans to make better individual choices in order to conserve resources. Today, consumer conservation is still useful — we can all plant more trees, stop building golf courses, and for the love of god stop drinking bottled water except in emergencies — but it’s also wholly inadequate to the task of stemming the crisis.
All of our efforts and political will have to address the big structural picture of how we power our world and who does and does not pay for the pollution we spill out across the land, earth, and sky. For the 2020 election, it’s clear that some people are still resisting the hard talks about the way we live. It’s easier to talk about straws.
Sen. Kamala Harris got caught in this trap at the town hall. She said that we should ban plastic straws, even as she joked about the need to improve the quality of paper ones. As she told Erin Burnett, “I’m going to be honest — it’s really difficult to drink out of a paper straw,” noting how they bend “if you don’t gulp it down immediately” and saying we need to “perfect that one a little bit more.”
Harris will have difficulty papering over that airy stream of consciousness masquerading as a thoughtful discussion of policy. Her lack of intellectual heft, and inability to identify and coherently discuss fundamental environmental issues, and in a way that’s serious without being smug and condescending, for many Democratic voters will be the last straw. They’ll look elsewhere, perhaps to Elizabeth Warren:
Elizabeth Warren, on the other hand, pointed the way forward on Wednesday. She sighed when host Chris Cuomo asked her to respond to President Trump’s war on energy-saving lightbulbs, saying, “Give me a break!” She argued that the fossil fuel industry wants us caught up discussing lightbulbs, straws, and cheeseburgers, when the truth is that “70% of the carbon that we’re throwing into the air comes from 3 industries.” She’s going to start with that 70%, and then, she admits, we can turn to the other 30% and think about consumer choice. But we can’t start with straws and lightbulbs. [Perry.]
Chastising and belittling voters who buy plastic straws, use plastic bags, drive gas guzzling SUVs, eat beef cheeseburgers instead of tasteless veggie burgers, as climate wreckers who are destroying the planet with their selfishness, does not win votes. Instead, it convinces voters that the supporters of straw bans and such consider themselves morally superior human beings — smug city dwelling, college educated elites — who intend to use the power of the state to “improve” the personal habits of the hard working Joes and Jills who wear red truckers caps.
Democratic candidates should follow Warren’s example. Retire the “I’m greener than thou” rhetoric, stop chasing red herrings, attacking straw men, and insulting red capped voters, and stick to the fundamentals of clean air, clean water, and global warming.