You’d be amazed at how resistant most people are to anything that feels unfamiliar, even if it’s good for them. Coal and oil jobs are familiar, green jobs are not.
It should be as simple as you’re suggesting, but sadly it isn’t.
I don’t buy it. It feels like these vague arguments are used against any progressive policy. “We can’t tax the rich cause then they’ll leave the country!”
If fossil fuel workers are so stubborn that they will refuse to vote for a party that wants to transition them into green energy jobs then their votes aren’t worth it. If the democratic party allows the workers of a single industry to determine their climate policy then they are revealing themselves to be spineless and useless politicians.
Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good. The reality is that dismantling an industry so enmeshed in our economy, both nationally and locally, is HARD. People WILL be negatively impacted and it would be stupid to ignore that. Democrats have to walk a very thin tightrope to not alienate people, which is what will happen if we go as hard as we should
You’d be amazed at how resistant most people are to anything that feels unfamiliar, even if it’s good for them. Coal and oil jobs are familiar, green jobs are not.
It should be as simple as you’re suggesting, but sadly it isn’t.
I don’t buy it. It feels like these vague arguments are used against any progressive policy. “We can’t tax the rich cause then they’ll leave the country!”
If fossil fuel workers are so stubborn that they will refuse to vote for a party that wants to transition them into green energy jobs then their votes aren’t worth it. If the democratic party allows the workers of a single industry to determine their climate policy then they are revealing themselves to be spineless and useless politicians.
Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good. The reality is that dismantling an industry so enmeshed in our economy, both nationally and locally, is HARD. People WILL be negatively impacted and it would be stupid to ignore that. Democrats have to walk a very thin tightrope to not alienate people, which is what will happen if we go as hard as we should