On Monday, we put in calls to California Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, as well as to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, asking each to prioritize the Kerry-Lieberman-Graham energy and climate bill rather than divert the Senate's attention to immigration law reform.
It feels silly to ask Barbara Boxer to prioritize environmental affairs -- she's the head of the Senate's Environment and Public Works committee, and among earth-based life forms' best friends in government. On environment, California leads.
But Boxer's office told us that even so, it's important to be able to count the calls.
That's how it works, folks -- you call your representatives, and they use the numbers to argue in favor of your position.
It's called representative democracy.
That's why the Tea Partiers are getting so much grease.
As for Reid, Thomas Friedman -- thankfully, he's on a pro-energy-bill jag this week (let's hope it continues until the bill passes) -- writes that the reason Democrats are considering shunting what would surely be yet another long, arduous, and divisive debate on immigration, ahead of a ready-to-go bill on the most urgent issue that faces humankind, is to garner Latino votes in Nevada, where he is fighting for his political life, and may well lose his seat.
The GOP's strategy -- decapitation. Cut off the Democrats' head and their majority caucus will fall apart.
But really, if this is how Reid makes decisions on the most pressing matters of out time, he should lose his job.
I know partisan Democrats are arguing that the most important matter is to hold on to the majority. After all -- and with this I agree -- you won't see any action on climate (or, really, anything else) with the Republicans in charge.
However, a Congressional debate on immigration reform is guaranteed to be, again, longer and more contentious than the health care debate.
It took over a year to get the health care bill through.
We've spent the last twenty years dragging our feet on climate change -- doing nothing as the north pole disintegrated, megahurricanes and tornado clusters accumulated, and the ocean turned to acid.
We have neither time to wait nor waste.
As Friedman reminds us today, the Chinese are cleaning our clock at the next big thing. That's outrageous.
China is having a good week in America. Yes it is. I’d even suggest that there is some high-fiving going on in Beijing. I mean, wouldn’t you if you saw America’s Democratic and Republican leaders conspiring to ensure that America cedes the next great global industry — E.T., energy technology — to China?
The Arizona bill is despicable (though not surprising from the state that refused to ratify the Martin Luther King holiday), and important to counteract at the federal level. But neither it nor the 2010 election is as urgent as global catastrophe.
There's a bill on the table. Ready to go.
Please take five minutes to call both your Senators today. Say something along the lines of:
FOR DEMOCRATIC SENATORS:
Hello, my name is ___________. I'm a constituent, and I live in ___________. I'd like to register a comment with the Senator. Senator Lindsey Graham has pulled out of the climate bill because he says the Democrats and Senator Reid want to use immigration reform as a political bludgeon this November. Graham is right. The earth's capacity to maintain a climate fit for human life is more urgent than immigration law -- or the next election. We can not afford to wait another month, let alone another year, or another electoral cycle. I urge you to prioritize the climate bill. I live on planet earth, and I vote.
FOR REPUBLICAN SENATORS:
Hello, my name is ___________. I'm a constituent, and I live in ___________. The Chinese are cleaning America's clock when it comes to the next major global industry: clean energy. That's largely because your party, in the majority and the White House, wasted a decade pretending that the problem of global warming didn't exist, and that we could bomb our way to energy independence. It's time to act to pass the energy and climate bill. I am concerned about energy jobs and energy independence, and I vote.
Then call Reid and tell him:
Senator Reid, the fate of life on earth is the most urgent issue. Green jobs are more important to Americans than your job. Get the Climate bill through -- then do immigration reform. And maybe the votes will follow your leadership.
Might as well call the White House, while you're at it. 202-456-1414.
President Obama, save the planet. Then fix immigration law.
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