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America's New Energy Policy: History, Farce and Tragedy
by David Sassoon - Dec 19th, 2007
Yesterday afternoon, the President of the United States signed a new energy bill into law. That was history.
Yesterday evening, after a two year delay, the EPA rejected California's request for a waiver under the Clean Air Act, to allow regulation of tailpipe emissions. That was farce.
And tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow -- thanks to both history and farce -- the nation will continue on a path to both economic and environmental oblivion. That is tragedy.
It requires the skill of Brueghel to depict for us the blind leading the blind, or of Shakespeare to do true justice to this timeless tale of ambition, folly and greed. What a cast of characters he'd have at his disposal! Let's delve into the elements of the drama and conjure his assistance with this recasting of his words from Julius Caesar:
The fault, dear Democrats, is not in your stars,
But in yourselves, that you are underlings.
Perhaps it is the most unkindest cut of all to pick on the Democrats. But the elements of drama require heroes with fatal flaws. So let's give that role to the Democrats, on whom we pin our fondest hopes of justice and mercy. They have failed us miserably at the end of ACT I in which they assumed a slim legislative supremacy. Will they learn from their political ineptitude? Will the heroism of Dame Pelosi inspire the troops to rally? Or will an unknown actor, not yet upon the stage, come lead the way?
It is a drama of dark energy versus light: of oil and coal and big driving machines versus the sun and the wind and the future. And today, here is where we are:
The Democrats have colluded in passing an energy bill that has strengthened the dark energy. They said okay, no support for the sun and the wind, we'll take that provision out. And okay, continued support for the oil, we'll put that provision back in. And yes, here's a giveaway to corn, so big and ill-advised that it will turn agriculture over to the dark energy.
What did they get in return? They got the crown jewel: a 35 mpg fuel economy standard. It has taken them 30 years to get it. They desperately wanted to make history, but they confused something that takes way too long to accomplish with something truly historic. If only they had looked around.
But in dramas, the characters can't see what the audience sees -- even though they should. They are sharing the same stage with a body-building hero from California and 16 other governors who were about to deliver the fuel economy standard through the courts.
No law was really needed from Congress. Mass v. EPA was the weapon these 17 governors needed, and the Supreme Court had delivered it fully loaded into their hands. At the very latest, in 2009 under a new president, the weapon could be deployed.
Merely wait another year -- oh Democrats! -- and the crown jewel could have been had, without the irrevocable giveaways to the dark energy. "Keep your energy bill!" could have been your position, and you could have held the sacred ground sacred, instead of retreating, acquiescing and failing the earth and all her peoples.
How clear this became, and how swiftly. The president's signature on the energy bill was barely dry when all hugger mugger the EPA came forward with its decision on the California waiver: No.
Why? Because the freshly signed energy bill, the one the Democrats called historic, provided a plausible argument that the waiver was no longer necessary.
Without the energy bill, there were no grounds for "no." With the energy bill, the Democrats handed back -- for now -- the most formidable weapon, the one the darkness was most afraid of: Mass v. EPA. And so tonight, history has become farce, as the media chorus amplifies a cacophany of ever-present confusion and the curtain descends on the yuletide.
Tragedy? The arc doth tend in that direction. The words of the master from his darkest play provide fair warning:
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
Exeunt.
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Tremendous, with a caveat
Gorgeous writing making an important statement, that I agree with.
However, I have problems with one paragraph:
Do we really think that the Bush Administration needs any language or cover from the Democratic Party to pursue horrible policies? (That is, other than the inability to stand firm and refuse to hand over funding without serious constraints?)
The
Gerhard Weinberg (holocaust survivor, speaker/reader of over 15 languages) is perhaps the preeminent historian of World War II. One lecture of his that I attended focused on the American responsibility for the Holocaust, at the Holocaust Museum. And, over the course of a typically brilliant lecture, his basic point: One has to be quite aware of who the real criminal was. The US (UK, etc) did not pursue genocide (okay, Indians aside?). The United States did not choose to kill Jews / Gypsies / Etc. There were anti-Semites in the USG and policies / actions that at times did not act forcefully against the Holocaust, but it was not the Americans that started/pursued/etc the Holocaust. And, if fact, the US decision to invade North Africa before the European continent helped (or did) save the North African Jewish community which survived the war relatively unscathed. That there were US policies and actions that could have been better, but the United States was like a witness to a crime who acted, in face of it, but did not necessarily do everything the best way to stop the crime and limit its implications, but that the United States was not 'the' criminal in the situation.
Global Warming (Peak Oil, Peak Water, etc) could have genocidal-like implications over the coming decades (centuries). But that is not the implication here.
The Democratic Party, at this time, is not the "criminal", although it is not acting as forcefully as it can or should. The Democratic Party, at this time, is not the one seeking to inhibit any meaningful action to address global warming and our energy challenges. What too many in the Party are, however, is too oblivious to the real extent of the threat and the real extent of requirements to seek to even begin to address the threat. What too many in the Party are, however, is too scared to act courageously in the face of Mr 26%, perceived Corporate interests, and (what I hope is) a misreading of the American public's readiness to be lead. What too many in the Party are, however, is too ready to seize on the slightest ability to claim tactical victory without comprehension of the strategic implications.
We need to be thinking strategically, as well. And, that means as individuals and as organizations. This fall, I'm sorry, I don't think this was has been the case when it comes to Energy and Global Warming legislative activity.
But, again, the Bush Administration didn't need an excuse for this ruling (which is unlikely to stand up to legal scrutiny but which will continue delay tactics on change) even if the smiles at the White House signing conference provided a convenient pseudo-plausible excuse for it.
Blogging regularly at Energy Smart for a Sustainable Future.
Dems must be held accountable, period.
The Bushies did not need the energy bill to say no to the waiver, but it played right into their hands and provided them with a slam dunk talking point.....that's why i called it a farce.
it's what happens when you don't look to see who else is on stage with you -- that's my largest point. And so the Dems end up undercutting their strongest allies in the home districts without realizing it.
The democrats need to be held accountable for their failure to deliver, or even hold their ground....that's the bottom line.
That's different from blaming them for problems.
The pressure will help to stiffen their flabby backbone, even if it might insult their vanity.
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