A vital spot on article that I hope will be read
and shared far and wide. — Molly
 |
| A group of people flip over an hourglass in front of the Democratic National Committee headquarters, during a Green Peace rally to call for a presidential climate debate on June 12, 2019, in Washington, D.C. |
One can’t mention the Green New Deal without a chorus of people asking, “How will we pay for it?” But when it comes to a crowded field of more than 20 Democratic presidential contenders, few bother to ask, “Who’s footing the bill for this horse race?”
That’s because the reason is obvious. With a few exceptions, large donors and Wall Street interests back nearly every contender.
In a time when democratic values and policies are shredded daily, will the unprecedented Democratic strategy of crowding the field and the upcoming debate stage with a surplus of largely Wall Street-funded candidates really deliver defeat to Trump?
True, the number of personalities available may briefly enliven voters beaten down into learned helplessness through following the daily Trumpian barrage of horrors, which is only worsened by the Democratic leadership’s inert responses.
Meanwhile, given the narrowing window for effective climate action, helping voters to identify any candidates beholden to fossil fuel money will ultimately determine the outcome of the climate crisis, as well as the future of U.S. democracy. Although less obvious from the outset, the Democratic Party’s strategy to run a wide array of candidates may be less small “d” democratic than initially appeared.
This becomes most obvious when we think ahead to the upcoming debates.
Rather than host a meaningful discussion among the top contenders to help Americans focus on the few climate-active candidates with a strong likelihood of defeating Trump, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) has chosen to crowd the field — and therefore the debate stage. Watching a parade of different personalities will confuse priorities and obscure choice. Picture 20 people each in turn accorded a few minutes to generate a rapid-fire response to a “gotcha” or softball question. Less like democratic discourse and more like speed dating, it’s actually “speed debating.”
As in a TV game show, speed debating automatically prefers snappy over substantive answers. Candidates can readily use climate as a buzzword, even as their campaign funding leaves them beholden to fossil fuel money.
To make matters worse, the DNC has refused to host a climate debate and announced that it will bar from the debate stage any candidates participating in one in another venue. In censoring a serious discussion of climate, the DNC aligns itself with President Trump’s anti-climate agenda.
Shopping for Candidates
The parade of candidates — some of whom target their appeal to a specific but limited demographic — is an artifact of marketing research and consumerism. This strategy keeps people flattered and distracted with pseudo-choice within a seemingly dazzling (but in fact quite limited) array of options. There are only a mere handful of truly climate-activated candidates, as most merely deliver lip service.
Please continue this article here: https://truthout.org/articles/the-dnc-strategy-will-defeat-climate-voters-not-trump/
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