I’ve been taking a lot of heat for boycotting the February 17 Keystone XL Pipeline Protest even though I live in the DC area, because like the Punk Patriot I didn’t see the point. The Keystone XL pipeline is a done deal precisely because the organizers of the demonstration refused to take action against it when their opposition might have meant something.
The time for Sierra Club to protest was BEFORE the election of 2012 not AFTER. The least Sierra Club could have done was to withhold support for Obama until he acknowledged the threat of climate change and pledged to do something about it in the debates.
At this point I’m not even blaming Sierra Club for dissing Jill Stein and hundreds of other down ticket Green Party candidates in 2012, including me. All I’m asking is that they behave like rational political actors.
What if Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin had postponed the protest in Chicago’s Lincoln Park till after the 1968 Democratic Convention? What if the Chicago 8 had endorsed Hubert Humphrey for President in the vain hope that he would end the Vietnam War after the 1968 election?
Even the greenest of New Left neophytes and the spaciest of anarchist hippies would have questioned their political smarts. The situation is the same. The leaders are decidedly different.
No need to get depressed though. If you’re looking for latter day environmental leadership look no further than the Punk Patriot. Now there’s a man after my own heart. Here’s one choice quote from the Punk:
“I’m not really into begging power to do the right thing. I’m much more interested in getting people who can be trusted into power, who I KNOW will do the right thing…People like you and me…”
For more information about the issue, go to the Washington Post’s account of the Keystone protest parade.
When Obama goes ahead with the XL pipeline the environmentalists will have no more excuses to back him. If they don’t break with the Democrats at that point they’ll deserve what they get.
I can understand people supporting Obama before the election because the Republicans didn’t even recognize global warming and were prepared to enact draconian entitlement cuts. But that’s all history.
Like the gutting of the Public Option for the Health care proponents, the XL Pipeline approval should be the same for the Environmentalists. The Decisive moment to split from thee Demorats!
You found an excuse to vote for Obama in 2008 and 2012. You’ll undoubtedly find another excuse to vote Democratic in 2016.