The fierce urgency of now is impractical. That's essentially what the pragmatists tell us. Well tell that to the planet. How much more practical can you get than: it's Mother Nature's Way or the highway, humans?
I've come to seriously question whether moderate Democrats truly believe in the threat of Global Warming. If they did, how could they so readily accept what is "politically realistic" in the current paradigm? If centrists truly appreciated the consequences of Global Warming, wouldn't they be arguing "to hell with what's politically realistic, we have to address this broadly, decisively and with overwhelming force. Anything less than THAT would be irresponsible."
But we aren't hearing anything like that from the centrists. Nor is there any reason to suppose that we will. If and when Climate Change legislation comes to pass it will be woefully insufficient, we know, except in the way in which it distributes yet more corporate welfare. And the pragmatists will readily embrace it as an acceptably "realistic" response to the problem.
Again, what person believing that Climate Change poses dire consequences to life on the planet earth would respond this way?
Is it that this kind of moderation is a form of
- Learned helplessness (e.g., randomly shocked rat syndrome),
- Inappropriate acclimation to a lethal environment (e.g., boiled frog syndrome),
- Intellectual uncertainty (e.g., the jury's still out),
- Profound incuriosity (e.g., whatever...).
Regardless of the reason, this inability or unwillingness to treat Global Warming not merely with a "practical" level of seriousness that seems "realistic" and "possible", but rather with an effective level of seriousness that actually seems up to the task is every bit as dangerous to the rest of us as the Climate Change Denial movement. Because it results in apathy, which is worse (the proof of which is the subject of another diary).
The combined force of the denial and realist movements have already stalled action long enough to force a preponderance of discussion upon adaptation. Not just because a harmful degree of Climate Change has already become a fait accompli, which it has, but that much more harm is also predictable, because no significant oppositional force is remotely foreseeable, given the current paradigm of power and politics, propped up as it is by the denialists (corporatists) and realists (apologists).
The above analysis is also directly applicable to debate on the Class War. We have the denialists, realists, current level of suffering and dire long-term consequences. And, likewise, the "realistic" response is actually the irresponsible response, since it allows the problem to grow.
A movement for change is, in effect, a revolution. We worked hard together to get Obama and the Democratic Congress elected for this revolution. The players are in place. But Obama, the Congress and the centrists appear to have lost their sense of purpose. They call it "being realistic." So, now that we own the road, they seem unwilling to continue to leave it all on the road to achieve our goals.
Centrists keep accusing me of not giving Obama and/or the Congress enough time. I would give them all the time in the world if I thought for one minute they were truly trying. Had Obama taken to the road and inspired the masses to stand up and show the obstructionists in Congress and the vested interests that HealthCare Reform with a robust public option was non-negotiable, I would not be asking for more. If Harry Reid wielded committee appointments like a club to bring members in line, I would not be asking for more. Not only do I believe that, had they done so, we would have gotten the reform we wanted, but, had it fallen short, we would all be focused on blaming the Republicans rather than divided as we are. But we have not seen anything like that. Nothing remotely like we saw during the campaign has been leveraged on any issue. No amount of time will achieve what only true conviction and commitment can do.
So how do we get the centrists to acknowledge and internalize what are to many of us the established facts that Global Warming and the Class War threaten the future of humanity? How do we get the centrists to embrace the fierce urgency of now with true conviction and commitment? How do we effect revolutionary change when so many who helped us get here seem suddenly unaware, after the tremendous success of the election cycle, that we are not bound by pedestrian, pragmatic constructs of the possible, that, when it comes to making the reality we must create, rather than defaulting to the one that the old paradigm suggests we must accept, yes we can?
Yes we can, people, but only if we are willing to leave it all on the road. Only if we truly believe in the fierce urgency of now and react accordingly and responsibly for future generations. Only if we do so in numbers too large to ignore.
I am dumbstruck by the fact that tens of millions of people are not willing to camp out at their state capitals until the threat of Global Warming is not responsibly addressed. What the hell else do we have better to do than secure a safe environment for the future of our species? What? What is it? We should be asking ourselves that question every day. Then repeat for the Class War.
I have been to plenty of protests and demonstrations and am always surprised by the turnout. Who's missing? The moderates. And the progressive who have been demoralized by the moderates. Until the moderates lose their moderation in these most immoderate of circumstances we face, the denialists and their financiers win.
One kossack responded to a recent, extremely well written diary about the status and significance of the Class War by saying, "Oh no, it's the end of the world as we know it!"
If we want to change anything, we'll have to change this first.