Senate Democrats Aren’t Taking Climate Change Seriously Enough

First off, any group of people who unanimously vote Chuck Schumer, the most useful idiot who ever lived, back into leadership after he helped fill the judiciary with Trump’s judges should not be trusted. The short answer to what is the problem with the Democratic Party is the litany of feckless Senate Democrats who do nothing but capitulate to Republicans over and over and over. This longstanding tradition of “compromising” with Republicans while eschewing liberal priorities has reached a breaking point, as the IPCC issued a dire warning that unless we do something truly revolutionary and pivot our economy away from fossil fuels in the next ten years, the Earth will become incredibly hostile to life in twenty years.

This is literally a fight for our survival. We have no time left for half-measures, yet Chuck Schumer wants to put a man famous for shooting a bill designed to combat climate change at the top of the powerful Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

This last generation of Democratic policy has proven to not be very liberal, and we need to disabuse ourselves of any remaining loyalty to the old Democratic guard. It’s not a stretch to say that these folks are going to get us all killed with their slavish devotion to conservative compromise over liberal policy, and a new generation of politicians must take the mantle from a group of folks whose legacy will be making the Democratic Party look more like the Republican Party. Politicians like Washington Governor Jay Inslee get it, as he has launched a bid to block de facto climate denialist Joe Manchin from serving on the most important committee to combat climate change. Per The Guardian:

Jay Inslee, the governor of Washington state, is launching a petition to demand that Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, block Manchin from serving as the top Democrat on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

In an email sent out to supporters, Inslee insists: “Senate Democrats must not allow Joe Manchin to become the ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. I need your help to stop this.” While the Washington Democrat offers some praise for Manchin, saying “Look, Joe Manchin has been a champion for affordable health care for every American. He’s been a leader on issues you and I care deeply about.” However, he adds: “But on climate, he’s simply wrong.”

We can have a habitable planet, or the economy we all “enjoy,” but we can’t have both. This is an unadulterated fact and anyone who disagrees is standing in the way of an initiative to save mankind as we know it. Time ran out a long time ago, and we are already experiencing the horrific effects of climate change, and all that is left for us to do is to avoid the worst-case scenario. Putting Joe Manchin in charge of climate policy puts us all on the path to extinction, not salvation.

Not to mention, fighting for the survival of mankind is politically popular! A new poll shows that a whopping 72% of Americans think that climate should be a higher priority, and half of Americans think it should be the top priority. For all the talk of “purity tests,” and how they supposedly hurt the Democratic Party, that’s exactly what we need going forward on the topic of climate change: are Democrats going to step up and try to save the planet or are they going to conduct business as usual? If it’s the former, then they should be incorporated into the new Democratic coalition that’s trying to build a better future, if it’s the latter, then people like Joe Manchin should just drop the charade and become the Republicans they have proven to be.

Jacob Weindling is a staff writer for Paste politics. Follow him on Twitter at @Jakeweindling.