by gmoke
Fri Nov 8th, 2024 at 06:22:30 PM EST
Since reading Democracy in America? What Has Gone Wrong and What We Can Do About It by Benjamin I Page and Martin Gilens (Chicago: Univ of Chicago Press, 2017 ISBN 978-0-226-50896-2), I've been thinking that there has to be something besides electoral politics.
Their book is partially based on a a study of 1791 proposed policy changes from 1981 to 2002 which found that proposals with 61-80% approval have a less than 40% chance of passing, up to 90% approval passes a little more often than 40% of the time, and even a proposal with 91-100% approval has less than 60% chance of passing. Our system of government is incredibly slow to change. Concentrating all our focus on electoral politics, legislation, regulation, and government action is a long haul, it seems, even when we are unanimous or nearly so.
One alternative may be modeled on the kind of mutual aid that comes out of emergencies. In some cases this is already happening with such organizations as the Cajun Navy (http://www.cajunnavyrelief.com) and the echoes of Occupy Sandy. There will be new groups and coalitions coming out of the debris left behind by Hurricanes Helene and Milton (see http://solarray.blogspot.com/2024/10/raising-hell-in-paradise-built-in-hell.html for more).
The Climate Mobilization Project (http://theclimatemobilization.org) is one climate group now organizing around community preparedness:
"We are launching a movement to survive climate impacts, heal together, and rise up against fossil fuels."
Here's one of their projects in Kentucky: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOieLeLY0RY
More climate, environmental, and other related interest groups should be doing the same thing as it's way past time to get ready for the changes in weather and climate we are already seeing and preparing for the next weather emergency in ways that adapt and mitigate climate effects is much more direct than trying to pass a new law or elect another politician to office.
At least it's another way to work on climate and environmental issues as Trmp II's Death Star comes over the horizon.
