Clinton Tankersley: Is Joe Biden a Monster?

Guest essay on Wednesday, 3 April 2024

Is Biden a Monster?

by Clinton Tankersley

I recently had a conversation about presidential politics with my friend and former business partner; let's call her K. She is a Millennial (like me!) from Southern California and resides in Oregon—a true West Coast liberal. That is why I was shocked to hear her describe both the former and current presidents as "monsters."

"Okay, I agree about Trump, of course, but how can you say that Biden is a monster, too? Isn't that way over the top?"

"Look, don't get me wrong—I am still voting for Biden, no doubt. But, Clint, he is a monster."

I prepared my arguments in my mind, gearing up to defend President Biden's record and tout his many major accomplishments (such as the American Rescue Plan, the Inflation Reduction Act, supporting Ukraine, and many lesser known achievements). Sure, he has presided over some terrible blunders (the sloppy withdrawal from Afghanistan is at the top of that list; he is directly responsible for the deaths—and worse—of many good, innocent Afghans who worked with the US during occupation but were not expatriated to America as promised), of course, but on balance he is pretty good. Maybe even really good.

Having recovered from my initial shock, I took a deep breath and asked the inevitable follow-up.

"Alright K, I hear you... but uh… can you unpack that for me a bit? It’s a bold claim!"

Millions of people in the Indian capital region “could live nearly 12 years longer if they had cleaner air.” Source.

"Sure! It really is simple. He has not done anything meaningful to address climate change. And that is monstrous. That makes him a monster. All of those dire predictions from decades ago are coming true—but even earlier! We are already experiencing negative changes in 2024 that we weren't supposed to get until years later. If you know that billions of people will suffer if you don't act, and you still choose not to act, then I'm sorry but that makes you a monster!"

Wow. Now that is speaking truth to power.

And, for the record, I don't disagree with K.

WHAT GIVES, BOOMER?

(Before I say the next piece, I need to note that I don't like making generalities about huge groups of people, especially groups of people who have been arbitrarily shoehorned into a label based solely on the year that they were born. In this instance, however, the generational labels do prove useful as a convenient shorthand, but only for collective generalities. Please do not take the following paragraphs personally if your generation is negatively implicated therein—I am not extracting any collective shortcomings in order to lay it at your feet as an individual shortcoming.)

To be brutally forthright from the climate-conscious Millennial / Gen Z / Gen Alpha perspective, if you are reading this and you are over the age of 60, then your generation has blood on its hands for their repeated and ongoing abject failure to solve the climate crisis.

Dad, can I borrow twenty bucks? Source.

But blame is counter-productive. Instead of pointing fingers, we need action. And if you support climate action but don't have the wherewithal to make it happen as your #1 priority, then you must get out of the way and let real leaders step up to the plate.

You see, you will not be around to face the worst of climate change. At age 40, I will live to see a vastly different environment than the one I enjoyed as a kid in the 80s and 90s. My future grandchildren will never know that world at all. Hell, they won't even know how good we had it on Earth 2024.

The older generations have heard all of these arguments before. They know our planet is dying but they remain unmoved, on a collective basis.

Why?

If I had to speculate, I'd wager that the cultural culprit is a nasty slurry of cowardice, comfort, and political expediency. There may also be a degree of hedonism at play (see the most recent World Happiness Report, which found that happiness rankings in the United States "for those aged 60 and older are 50 or more places higher than for those under 30."). The older generations may be too busy enjoying their power and riches to be bothered about climate change. YOLO!

NOTHING MATTERS MORE

World leaders cite “Extreme Weather” as this year’s most likely cause of global crisis. Those same leaders rank environmental risks as the #1, #2, #3, #4, and #5 such risks for 2034. Source.

In all seriousness, though, I am grateful for the many progressive Boomers, perhaps like yourself, who care deeply about the environment and continue to advocate for climate action. Thank you—we need you in the fight.

For everyone else, please know that we already have the answers to climate change and we already possess all of the technology needed to solve it. What we lack, as a nation and world, is the political will. And political will can only be shifted by letting our representatives in government know—by voting, by protest, and by direct communication—that climate action NOW is our #1 priority. Please join me in this effort.

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