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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So we need to get rid of the outside money (agree) and Congress (disagree) and SCOTUS (tempting, but careful what you wish for) so that a president can just enact policies without resistance? That might happen, but, wait, Trump's the BIGGER monster, so maybe not? Only the president you want in charge should have that power? Or what am I missing?
Believe me, nobody could be more disappointed in my generation that I. After Woodstock, I and many others of my cohort were sure that when we were in charge everything would be groovy. No more pop wars, no more racial disharmony, and sex without hangups. Instead of fighting, people would put The Dead on the stereo and knock back to share a joint. Didn't quite work out that way. What happened? Were we mugged by reality? I think that nothing really happened to turn a generation of hippie/yippie radicals into Republicans. I think we never really were a generation of hippie/yippie radicals. Sure, kids were happy to flash the peace sign, grow their hair, and tout the latest Doors album, but underneath was a deep conservatism. There were many more George W. Bushes than Abbie Hoffmans.
Still, I think that a great deal of the impetus for the environmental movement came from Boomers. Bill McKibben is a boomer (born 1960). So is Al Gore (born 1948). I participated in the first Earth Day 54 years ago this month. The Environmental Defense Fund was founded in 1967 and Boomer Fred Krupp has been its president since 1984. The National Resources Defense Council was founded in 1970. Leading climate scientist Michael Mann missed being a Boomer by one year (born 1965). Two of the books that most influenced my generation were Rachel Carson's Silent Spring and the Paul Ehrlich's The Population Bomb. Though the latter's apocalyptic prognostications did not come to pass, it did alert us to the fact that the earth's bounty is not limitless. So, we Boomers were young and some of us were idealistic when the modern environmental movement got going, and some of us were inspired to lifelong activism.
The above paragraph is not meant to exonerate a generation. I think whole generations can neither be condemned nor exonerated. Did the Boomers solve the climate crisis? No. Will any younger generation do it? I won't live to see, but I am skeptical. Sure "cowardice, comfort, and political expediency" are factors, but this greatly understates the power and entrenchment of the anti-environmental forces. Consider just the Koch Brothers (Now down to one. Boo hoo.). They could pour unlimited millions to support pro-pollution candidates and lobbyists and even found whole "think tanks" staffed with ideologues and opportunists who happily promulgate misinformation and disinformation. The ones who will be most affected by climate change are in poor countries and have no power. To the younger generations, then, I say, "Good luck," and I will not be so spiteful as to say, "I told you so" If the world is burning up in 2050.