The Wizards of "No"

Springfield, IL -- This city is most famous as the political launching pad for Abraham Lincoln, a president who famously put serving the Constitution above everything else. But this summer it's seeing politics of a different kind -- Representative John Shimkus, for example, regaled the Illinois State Fair with the battle cry of the current Congressional Republican party:

You know there's a chant going on in America right now. And you know, it's really not a Republican chant yet. But it's a Republican chant by the grassroots America that are attending thousands of townhall meetings. And as congressmen enter these townhall meetings, what is the public saying to them? They are saying, "Just say no. Just say no. Just say no."

Now, Republicans -- that is going to be our chant from now until Election Day, because we've been saying no for a long time.

Lincoln, the father of Republican Party, would have been appalled. But the nation, including the press, is sleeping through a fundamental threat to self-government. An essential principal of democracy is that, while minorities must be respected and their rights guaranteed, governance rests with majorities. But since 1993, the U.S. Senate has turned what was once a historical anomaly -- an occasional days-long filibuster on issues of enormous controversy -- into a routine political tool that has elevated minority rule into perhaps the most important political dynamic in the country. In fact, a minority of forty senators -- enough to block action under the current culture -- might actually represent as little as 20 percent of the nation's population. Combine this with a Republican party that, in Washington at least, has decided that Congress should work on a bitterly partisan basis, and our government has lost its capacity to reflect the basic rules of our Constitution -- that government rests upon the consent of the governed.

The American people have not consented to the continued control of our lives, environment, and economy that is currently enjoyed by the coal and oil industries -- polls have consistently shown for two decades that they want energy innovation and transformation. At various times, a majority of Congress that also represents a large majority of the American people has been willing to respect this public will. Since the election of Barack Obama (and for the first time since the early days of the Clinton administration), the White House has agreed. But, because minority rule in the Senate blocks action, the lock that Big Carbon has on our economy has not been broken.

It's time to call the current rules of the Senate what they are -- a coup d'état by the minority, enabled by the desire of Democratic senators to hold on to the individual veto power those rules give them. This folly brought Bill Clinton's administration to its knees in 1993 -- and it's on the verge of doing the same thing to Barack Obama's.

Follow Carl Pope on Twitter: www.twitter.com/CarlPope

Comments

[sheila]

If we are so opposed to Big Oil running our lives, then why would organizations like Sierra Club support T. Boone Pickens, Chevron, BP, Bright Source and all the other mercenaries who are trying to destroy millions of acres of our wilderness for monopoly control over Big Solar and Big Wind, instead of supporting ratepayer-owned point of use solutions which save, not kill, our wilderness (rooftop solar, conservation, efficiency, etc.)??

Big Oil is still Big Oil, even if it is greenwashing itself with a different murderous technology. It is dead set on destroying the environment, bankrupting ratepayers and ripping off taxpayers - so shouldn't we be opposing ALL their disgusting, deadly incarnations?

Point of use solutions owned by US, and supported by generous feed in tariffs and loans are the only democratic, environmentally and economically sound future for us. Anything else is a corrupt mess. Don't be fooled by the greenwashing of Big Energy!

[mioffe]

"The American people have not consented to the continued control of our lives, environment, and economy that is currently enjoyed by the coal and oil industries -- polls have consistently shown for two decades that they want energy innovation and transforma­tion."
It will be good if American people will be not mislead not only by coal and oil industries, but also by author as part of mass media desinformation about reason for GW and role of GHG in that reason.

[Overtone]

TIME TO MOVE BEYOND COAL AND OIL!

Geologist John Atcheson recently updated his 2004 OpEd piece entitled: Ticking Time Bomb, with a more current article: Global Warming and the Only Question that Matters. Both can be found at www.commondreams.org He points out that continuing to burn fossil fuel threatens millions of lives - and may soon pass a tipping point that could make it impossible to stop a cataclysmic series of events - that have already begun.

He suggests we have only a year or two to make the decisions that might reverse the threat.

See: www.aesopinstitute.org for a few articles that address the largely unrecognized possibilities.

One is entitled: 4 Steps to Revive the Auto Industry and the Economy. It outlines radically new technology that opens surprising paths beyond fossil fuel.

A huge number of jobs might be created.

The science is new and not found in textbooks. Skeptics will understandably be legion. But independent laboratory validation, followed by mass production of these new systems, is now on the horizon.

As they prove their potential, these new technologies will change most of what is presently believed about energy.

[Breakwind]

Well, don't use electricity or cook food or heat your house!
That'll learn 'em!

[leduck]

my state, California, has minority rule down to a science!

[martinfrosa]

Carl,

You are partially correct when you say, "the American people have not consented to the continued control of our lives, environment, and economy that is currently enjoyed by...the government!! In the name of environmental policy, the government now dictates to us what kind of toilets we use (you know, the low water capacity ones that have to be flushed twice to do the job), the light bulbs we use (those lovely CFLs that contain mercury and will be dumped into our landfills by the millions), the kinds of cars we drive and the MPGs they should get, and what types of expensive energy we should use in the future to reduce CO2 emissions.

Next will come the thermostats that are centrally controlled so we cannot turn them up or down without government consent, smaller houses and cars, crowding us into the cities to avoid "sprawl." GPS systems will track our movements so we can be "taxed" if we consume too much gas in our daily travels. And this is only the beginning.

Taxes on junk foods, sugar, fat, and other unhealthy foods will follow because "Uncle Sam" knows they are bad for us. Next, we will be forced to buy health care, whether we want to or not.

1984 is upon us, and we are losing our freedoms to a tyrannical and growing federal government.