Dear Dianne,
The next time young people approach you about policy making, don’t lecture them about how great you are. You sound like an orange-colored Republican.
Furthermore, before arguing for the need to compromise, tell us how much money you take from oil companies.
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“Watch the Full Video of Sen. Feinstein’s Exchange With Young Green Activists Before You Judge Her.”
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/02/feinstein-heated-exchange-green-new-deal-full-video.html
Thanks, Mark. I watched. Do you side with her or the young people?
I did not hear her tell us how much money she takes from oil companies. Until I know that, I have no context for understanding her passion against the GND or her passion for her own resolution.
Furthermore, the tone of the conversation made me more apt to side with the young people than with the politician who said, “What we have done has a chance of passing?”
REALLY? I will believe that when I see it. And I will understand its passage after she tells me how much money she takes from the oil lobby. That should not be hard to do. That is what every politician should do before lecturing others about climate change legislation.
In other words, does Dianne Feinstein demonstrate U, I, S, C, H & G anywhere in the video? I see a lack of all six, but that does not surprise me. In the book I wrote that politics, even that which is democratic, requires those who want to be elected to demonstrate the vices of the uneducated person.
This video is a good example. She demonstrates ignorance (of young people), intellectual incompetence, (unable to imagine the position of the young people), weakness, (is it so difficult to recognize the young people’s arguments without patronizing them–that would take strength), fear of truth (how much money do you take from oil companies?), pride (Can we get one of these for everyone and can we get them stapled together?), and selfishness (enough about your resolution).
I am not judging her. I am just pointing out what is in the complete video.
Interesting stuff.
I think it’s a mistake for Feinstein to criticize the Green New Deal and I think it’s a mistake for others to criticize her for taking a different legislative approach to solving the problem. There is way more uniting the two sides in this video than separating them.
It is probably true that there is more agreement than disagreement. But I love the irony of a highly schooled adult demonstrating that she is less educated than the young people she is lecturing. You pointed out how easy it is to cite the hypocrisy of William Bennett. It is also easy to be skeptical of a democratic senator who says she has a resolution that will become law.
Sen. Diane Feinstein: “We have our our own Green New Deal legislation…It has a much better chance of passing.”
Student: “You can still vote Yes and it won’t pass and you can draft a new plan.”
Sen. Diane Feinstein: “I may do that. We’ll see. I don’t know.”
I’m old enough to remember when Obamacare was criticized from the left because it didn’t include single-payer or even a public option, but what it did have going for it was the ability to get passed (by the skin of its teeth). Now, the fight for single payer or a public option, fought for under the name Medicare-for-All, carries on while the country enjoys the benefits of Obamacare, because Democrats then didn’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
Good points. You realize, of course, that our back-and-forth reflects the current situation within the Democratic party. Democrats are struggling to oppose recent Republican maneuvers to just the right extent. What do you do after Republicans refuse to hold hearings on Merrick Garland, take gerrymandering to an extreme, haul out voter suppression legislature as soon as Chief Justice John Roberts writes that we no longer need the voting rights act (What country does he live in? Has he ever been to Alabama?)? There is more, but I forgot some of the things Republicans have done behind closed doors with the money from the Koch brothers and others. None of those moves get the “extreme” label. Why is that?
Back to Democrats, though. You are the realist, I am the idealist. Poor me.
You are right. Democrats are struggling to work together. Democrats have always been their own worst enemy in this regard.
The so-called Green New Deal reads, to me, more like a party platform of everything the party would like to see implemented. Diane Feinstein is probably more focused on getting specific legislation passed. There’s no reason to pit those two things against each other. Democrats can support both, and more approaches as well.
Diane Feinstein stepped in it in her meeting with children. It’s obvious she has much more experience dealing with Congress than kids. I wouldn’t hire her as a teacher. But I just might cheer her on as a Senator going up against Mitch McConnell.
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