Clinton and McCain must think we’re all really, really dumb. Most experts say that the Clinton-McCain gas tax holiday is a mistake at best and shameless pandering at worst. We’d all like to hear from Al Gore on the idea, but there’s a long public record to show his position. In Earth in the Balance in 1993 he called the decision to support higher taxes on fossil fuels "one of the logical first steps in changing our policies in a manner consistent with a more responsible approach to the environment."
He also paid the political price for that position. The GOP called the 1993 law (where Gore cast the tie-breaking vote) the "Gore Gas Tax" and used effectively as a political weapon in the 1994 Congressional elections, as well as in the 2000 presidential election (back when consumers were hurting then because gas prices were up at a staggering $1.53 per gallon!)
The post-political Gore we know today remains committed to responsible, long-term thinking that sees beyond the election cycle. Here’s what he said when he accepted his Nobel prize last December:
We, the human species, are confronting a planetary emergency – a threat to the survival of our civilization that is gathering ominous and destructive potential even as we gather here. But there is hopeful news as well: we have the ability to solve this crisis and avoid the worst – though not all – of its consequences, if we act boldly, decisively and quickly.
....We also find it hard to imagine making the massive changes that are now necessary to solve the crisis. And when large truths are genuinely inconvenient, whole societies can, at least for a time, ignore them. Yet as George Orwell reminds us: "Sooner or later a false belief bumps up against solid reality, usually on a battlefield." ....
The way ahead is difficult. The outer boundary of what we currently believe is feasible is still far short of what we actually must do. Moreover, between here and there, across the unknown, falls the shadow.
That is just another way of saying that we have to expand the boundaries of what is possible. In the words of the Spanish poet, Antonio Machado, "Pathwalker, there is no path. You must make the path as you walk."
We are standing at the most fateful fork in that path. So I want to end as I began, with a vision of two futures – each a palpable possibility – and with a prayer that we will see with vivid clarity the necessity of choosing between those two futures, and the urgency of making the right choice now.
The great Norwegian playwright, Henrik Ibsen, wrote, "One of these days, the younger generation will come knocking at my door."
The future is knocking at our door right now. Make no mistake, the next generation will ask us one of two questions. Either they will ask: "What were you thinking; why didn't you act?"
Or they will ask instead: "How did you find the moral courage to rise and successfully resolve a crisis that so many said was impossible to solve?"
We have everything we need to get started, save perhaps political will, but political will is a renewable resource.
So let us renew it, and say together: "We have a purpose. We are many. For this purpose we will rise, and we will act."
Since Al Gore is still silent on the primary, let his long-term public record and passion be a call to action.