Where is Democratic leadership on Energy ?

[the_real_38]

I was reading James Kunstler's blog (kind of alarmist, but there's plenty of truth here):

http://jameshowardkunstler.typepad.com/clusterfuck_nation/

he talks about the coming catastrophic rise in natural gas prices that's going to hit us all this winter, and of course gasoline prices as well. (here's a link to what's going to happen to me in South Carolina:

http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/12729183.htm

And he hits on a very important point:

"This, of course, is the predicament of the Democrats, my own party. They have no interest in modifying the nation's suicidal suburban sprawl lifestyle either, only in the easy pretenses of political correctness. Instead of twanging on WMDs and the depravity of the war in Iraq, I'd like to hear someone like Harry Shearer (or John Kerry, or Nancy Pelosi, or Harry Reid) stand up and pitch for restoring the US passenger rail system. I'd like to hear some of these assholes propose some meaningful changes that Americans can make in behavior so we won't be so desperate to engage in military contests over the oil we need to drive for sushi in Los Angeles."

He's dead right - the democratic leadership in Washington spends all of it's time bitching about what Bush is doing, just reacting ( a lot of people on this forum are caught in the same trap), instead of pushing an alternative agenda that would address the long-term structural problems our society is facing. And not only by not pushing National Health Insurance, but on this energy issue. The U.S. needs to stop pissing away all of it's money on the military and this war in Iraq Bush can't win, and put it to developing new sources of energy.

Someone from our party is going to have to step up to the plate, take a risk and inform the American people that we need a whole new set of priorities.

[opihimoimoi]

1. The time is running out for our Dem Leaders to step to the Plate

oin many issues...and one should be the "ENERGY" mentioned.

[fencesitter]

2. Very true,

and you're in the "easy winters" south. I'm really dissapointed in the Dems now, they have no alternatives, no opposition, no ideas, no guts. They wouldn't offer an alternative solution to the SS problem till the Repubs took personal accounts off the table. Now that the GOP soution tanked, where is the Democratic alternative? Of course there is the problem of being the complete minority party where you can scream as loud as you want, but nobody will pay any attention.

[the_real_38]

4. Man, I hope it's an easy winter....

... I really think that we Democrats have got to come to a simple conclusion - the Democrats are the problem. Bush has done enough stupid shit to convince everyone (even other Republicans) that he's incompetent, and the federal government has to be run better than it is now.

But the current crop of democrats from the Senate (who are the only ones they'll allow on Meet the Press, apparently), except for may Obama, are in some sort of power-sharing agreement with the GOP - and let's face it, they all work for the same companies. We need new leaders, and that's only going to start if we honestly critique the ones that we have.

[losdiablosgato]

10. Just saying Bush bad is not enough

You have to put forth good workable ideas. The democrats haven't done this.

[YapiYapo]

3. Couldn't agree more.

Sad fact is,even here on DU, a thread about bush last stupid action will get hundred of answers,a thread on energy will usualy only get a few posts.

[Ladyhawk]

5. Maybe a better question would be "Where is the Democratic leadership?"

With a few exceptions, they aren't doing much in the way of leading on any issue. In the meantime, the * admin certainly isn't going to tackle the energy crisis. I think many of us are waiting until the 2006 elections, hoping Dems will win enough seats so we can start pestering our "leaders" into taking stands. I could call and write my MEpublican neocongressman every day, camp outside his office and it wouldn't do a bit of good. I'm only hoping that Dems will really listen.

[the_real_38]

6. It seems that this doesn't get much response....

... isn't it time for a little substantive discussion around here - about where we're going and who's going to lead us there?

[Ladyhawk]

7. There are some Dems who are really doing their jobs.

Conyers and Boxer come to mind, especially Conyers who is there on every single issue.

I think that We the People are going to have to be our own "leadership" for the time being and hope that the Democratic "leadership" will follow. I wish I could be more active, but I've got a list of health issues I'm battling.

I've been thinking that I could use some of the time I read DU to do something more productive, but I'm not sure what. I can't attend protests. I can write (and have written) letters to my representatives, but I don't feel like they do much good. Feinstein is almost worthless and Radanovich, my rep, is a neocon. Like he's gonna care what one Dem in an overwhelmingly Republican district has to say. :eyes: He doesn't even bother to respond to the letters I send him. Boxer usually spams my inbox two or three times with the same standard form letter, so at least her office is reading what I have to say and marking "in favor of" or "against" and responding accordingly. But Boxer is only one senator. :shrug:

[Ladyhawk]

8. Maybe we need to do something that hasn't been tried?

We write letters, call, protest. Yesterday there was some civil disobedience.

Anyone have any bright ideas? :)

[never cry wolf]

9. To be honest, there's not alot they can do

The pukes control everything, the courts, the executive, congress, the media. The pukes set every agenda for every congressional committee, they decide what to even talk about. The also chair every committe and have a voting majority on every committee. The dems that do talk are never shown on the MSM.

The admin has littered the henhouse with foxes now in charge of everything:

The White House has used all kinds of ingenious machinations to try to conceal its radical agenda from the American people including Orwellian rhetoric. When they want to destroy the forests, they call it the Healthy Forest Act. When they wanted to destroy the air, they called it the Clear Skies Bill.

But most insidiously, they have put polluters in charge of virtually all the agencies that are supposed to protect Americans from pollution.

President Bush appointed as head of the Forest Service a timber industry lobbyist, Mark Rey, probably the most rapacious in history. He put in charge of public lands a mining industry lobbyist, Steven Griles, who believes that public lands are unconstitutional. He put in charge of the air division of the EPA, Jeffrey Holmstead, a utility lobbyist who has represented nothing but the worst air polluters in America. As head of Superfund, a woman whose last job was teaching corporate polluters how to evade Superfund. The second in command of EPA is a Monsanto lobbyist.

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0916-27.htm

I'm not saying I wish they weren't doing more but they have to hold sessions til early in the morning just to be heard on C-Span. If a tree falls in a forest........

[the_real_38]

11. They could propose something like the Apollo Project ...

... here:

http://www.apolloalliance.org/

and try to get the whole team on board, instead of bringing them on to the talk shows and giving their 'more nuanced' views on Iraq (think Joe Binden).

This project seeks to get us on alternative fuels, and create jobs while we'red doing it.