The DNC Doesn’t Want a Climate Debate for a Reason
The DNC has banned the Democratic presidential candidates from taking part in any debate on the most urgent issue of our time: climate change. The party’s fealty to plutocratic donors and centrist has-been politicians has never been more apparent.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is greeted by Democratic National Committee (DNC) chairman Tom Perez before speaking during the DNC summer meeting on August 23, 2019 in San Francisco, California. (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)
The Democratic National Committee voted over the weekend not to hold a climate debate. Actually, it’s worse than that: they voted not to allow candidates to participate in such a debate. The move signaled that the party leadership is not serious about the most urgent matter facing humanity, and is out of touch with its own grassroots base, which is open to left ideas and increasingly worried about the burning planet.
Bay Area journalist Christopher Cook described the scene at the DNC meeting in a report for 48 Hills, an independent local paper: while the leadership killed the debate and gave lip service to the issue, young activists chanted “We Can’t Wait” and “The Whole World Is Watching.”
The Sunrise Movement and other youth climate groups like US Youth Climate Strike had been pushing for the climate debate. The New Republic and other organizations had planned one earlier this summer, but don’t get me started on the ridiculous plutocratic, pearl-clutching imbroglio that sunk that event (actually, I wrote about it here on this website).
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