Energy Bill: Worth the Fighting For?

It seems the Democratic leadership is in a bit of a bind.

If the world can not decarbonize its energy sources soon, terrible consequences will follow.  According to the Nobel-prize-winning IPCC, a billion additional people will face water shortages, and hundreds of millions may starve or contract awful diseases.  

On the other hand, if the Democrats do take steps to support development of no- and low-carbon energy (which, incidentally, are overwhelmingly popular), then the Republicans could filibuster.

So, as I'm sure you'll understand, great perils lie in both directions.

You do understand that, right?

We've seen this before.. on Iraq, unconditional amnesty for illegal spying, torture, and a host of other issues.  The good news is that the steam coming out of ears each time it happens is carbon-neutral, renewable, and probably sufficient to power much of the country if properly harnessed.

But that's the problem: its not being harnessed.  We have not succeeded in convincing the Democrats that it's ok if the Republicans filibuster.  Its even ok if they say mean things about us while they're  filibustering.

And if we want to save support for solar and wind-- or make any progress on a host of other issues-- we're going to have to get this message across.

So I'm going to assume good faith on the part of the Democratic leadership.  And lets further assume that they understand they are dealing with a media that will spin everything the worst possible way.  Its still a mistake for the Dems to fear filibusters.

(In the meantime, don't let up on the phone calls to Pelosi, Reid, and wavering Reps and Senators about these issues!  Just as in the case of Feinstein, these phone calls are working.)

Lessons learned from the Iraq filibuster
Its easy to forget this now, but last July, the Democrats did try a filibuster on Iraq.  They made a big show of it and even rolled cots onto the Senate floor.  Here's how the press covered it:

Washington Post: Senators Pull All-Nighter For Debate On Iraq War; GOP Denounces Effort As Political Theatrics

CNN: Senate Democrats in all-nighter on Iraq

NY Times:  Metal Cots, Takeout Pizza and a Long Night of Recriminations

After a day or two, they rolled the cots back, and gave the GOP pretty much everything they wanted.  So they looked ridiculous in the press (in their view) and in the end lost the fight.

Personally, I would have blamed it on the cots.  They just weren't a great prop.  But the Democrats chose to blame the filibuster.  The fundamental lesson they learned was: If we allow a filibuster, we will look ridiculous and we will still lose.  (Personally, I might be tempted to try the thing again, but without the cots.)

Learning other sets of lessons
In my view, that is entirely the wrong set of lessons to learn.  Actually, its not just my view: the following has been said so many times before on this site that I'm going to put it all in blockquotes.

   Actually, we might win the next one  If the GOP chooses to filibuster a very popular piece of legislation, they could barely have the support they need.  A lot of pressure can be focussed on a handful of Senators-- some of whom might be up for election in a few years.

   Giving in guarantees the worst-case legislative outcome  The worst that any filibuster can do to a bill is stop it cold.  Giving in to a filibuster threat accomplishes the exact same thing.

   Routinely pre-capitulating encourages opposition bluffing  There may be some GOP Senators who would like to filibuster a bill, but feel too electorally vulnerable to actually do so.  Telling them in advance that they only have to announce an intention to filibuster neatly solves this problem for them.

   Routinely pre-capitulating demoralizes our base  When we see Democrats fail to stand up and fight for bedrock American values (the right to be secure in our persons and papers, the right to a lawyer, habeas corpus, no searches without probable cause) we wonder what they will fight for.  Why should we take time out of our lives to help them get re-elected?

   Accepting different rules for Democrats and Republicans enforces a pattern  When the Democrats were in the minority, they were afraid to filibuster because they thought they would look bad and lose.  Now that they are in the majority, they still have the same fears.  This sends a message that the rules (political and legal) don't depend on who is in the majority, but on who is the Democrat.  This message is then applied to other arenas.

   Refusing to fight devalues our freedoms  When American kids are taught about our freedoms, they are taught that previous generations risked everything to fight for them.  We honor the veterans who fought at Valley Forge, Gettysburg and Guadalcanal, also the civilians who ran the Underground Railroad, shared King's dream and withstood fire hoses.  None of these fighters were guaranteed to win their battles; indeed, some lost.  Stating these freedoms are no longer worth fighting for detracts from them, in a very real sense.

Who's Afraid of the Big, Bad Filibuster?
This situation is happening again with the Energy Bill.  Could the Democrats cave on THAT, too?  Why yes, they could, and probably will if we let up our pressure.  

The bill contains a lot of great stuff.  It extends and increases support for wind, solar and other renewables, reduces subsidies for oil and increases CAFE mileage standards (although not as fast as we might like).  Its not perfect-- it has ginormous subsidies for ethanol-- but it is a big step forward.  And many of us knocked on a lot of doors last fall precisely so we could get legislation like this.

The Democratic fear seems to be "if we allow Republicans to filibuster, we'll have to bring cots to the Senate floor and they'll give speeches about how we're too busy having slumber parties to increase in domestic oil supply.  Then we'll look stupid again, and we'll probably still lose."

Well, maybe the cots should be left home next time.

And they're right about what the Republicans will say.  They'll talk about how the oil industry needs subsidies in an era of $100/barrel oil and $3 gas, and how we desperately need offshore drilling.  (Offshore drilling is so unpopular that even the President's brother isn't sure he supports it-- and that was before some idiot coated San Francisco bay with oil, and a storm made portions of the Black Sea live up to its name.

And the Democrats will get an opportunity to talk about Global Warming:  To point out that the vast majority of scientists say we need to decarbonize-- fast.  They can point out that most Americans (and humanity in general) supports decarbonizing, and how important the Energy Bill is to this.  They can talk about how investment in renewables creates jobs.  And they can talk about how the oil companies already have so much money they literally do not know what to do with it and are liquidating themselves.  And they'll have the opportunity to point out what even Thomas Friedman understands; that raising taxes on oil will have minimal effect on the price (which is determined by demand, and the cost of the most expensive barrel) but results in more money for America's treasury, and less for Iran, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Venezuela.

Most Americans are on our side.  The Republicans should fear a filibuster-- not the Democrats.

Enough dreaming.  Back to work.
The more counter-pressure we can apply to the Democrats, the more likely they will be to finally stand up to the Republicans.

Pelosi's offices number is 202- 225-4965 (fax [phone])
Reid's office's number is 202-224-3542  (fax [phone])

50 Reps (30 D, 20 R) identified by the National Wildlife Federation as swing votes on Global Warming.

House phone directory  --  Senate phone directory

Tell them you support renewable energy.  Tell them you support investment tax credits (ITC) and the production tax credits (PTC).  Tell them you support Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS).  If they want details, the House bill is H.R. 3221 and the Senate bill is an amendment to H.R. 6.  The tax measures we are fighting for only passed the House energy package (H.R. 3221; starting on page 902).  

Tell them we want them to fight, to keep debate open.  Be polite-- we are trying to persuade them to do something -- but be clear.

Tell them that if the Republicans do filibuster, we will support our party in every way we can-- blogs, e-mails to media, letters to the editor.

If we can get the Democrats to stand up to the Republicans and win-- just once-- they may learn a new set of lessons.  These may be applicable to FISA, torture, warrentless wiretaps and a host of other issues.

If we win here, we win everywhere.  The world is a fine place, and worth the fighting for.  And the phone calls.