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Waxman-Markey fight continues
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Not all blue skies
The rhetoric on the Waxman-Markey climate change bill has ramped up significantly since it cleared its first hurdle in the House of Representatives with a 217-205 vote Friday. Ohio Republican John Boehner has already launched a filibuster, going through the opening section of the 300 pages of amendments, one at a time, in an effort to stall the legislation.
A telling result of the house vote was the defection of 44 “Rural Democrats” who voted against the bill. On environmental issues these representatives sided with the Republicans rather than aligning with their own party. This has some Democrats nervous for the Senate vote. The House approval was just one step and the outcome of the bill is still in doubt.
This preliminary result and ongoing process says a great deal about the way energy politicking is done America. Private enterprise has done well to work both sides of the aisle. Their efforts have made many Republicans and Democrats see things the same way.
The result of the institutionalized Washington practice of money for influence (a.k.a. lobbying) and campaign contributions for elected officials gives established business critical leverage to halt challengers to their industries. Firms that create dirty energy often attained from imported sources naturally fear clean energy that can be created domestically. Thus, aggressive targeting of Republicans and Democrats by people on behalf of private enterprise is conducted to win votes.
The green industry that would be created by Waxman-Markey does not exist and therefore has not the money to create the amount of influence to equal the current energy producers. Buoyed by years of record profits, energy majors can act as a very effective counter to progress in the industry. The status quo is a desirable situation to be maintained.
Republicans and Democrats decry “Washington is broken” yet have done little to bring about a new day. The Obama mantra of change has already hit numerous contradictions by keeping policies of the Bush administration in place on issues of transparency where specific promises were made. The interaction of business people and politicians in this opaque environment is undemocratic secrecy that should not be allowed to continue.
Never mentioned in the mainstream media is the political stranglehold of the America two-party system while the rest of the democratic world is evolving their systems to a state where much more political choice is offered. Republicans and a now a sizable portion of Democrats do little to distinguish themselves from one another on issues of energy, war, health care, transportation, etc. This homogeneity shows how narrow the American political spectrum is compared with the rest of the democratic world.
Case in point is the rise of the international green movement that is picking up seats in the European Parliament and across the developing world. In many countries the most popular third political block is the Green Party, which is toothless in America. By contrast, 8.3% of the German Parliament is controlled by the Greens. Greens in Germany affect legislation and actively promote an environmental platform developing German clean energy companies into world leaders. If American Greens controlled 8.3% of Congress, the debate on Waxman-Markey would not be how to water it down, but instead how it could be strengthened.
The future of the bill and its strength is yet to be decided.
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