My Democratic Party believes there is man-made climate change.
My Democratic Party believes in science.
My Democratic Party believes in protecting the environment.
On February 17, 2017 two Democratic United States Senators voted for a man who is a climate denier, a science denier and a destroyer of the environment to head The Environmental Protection Agency.
For that alone, Joe Manchin and Heidi Heitkamp must be "primaried" in 2018 and we should start finding qualified, principled, Progressive candidates in their states today who can take them on and represent true Democratic values in Congress.
I don't care that West Virginia is a coal state and it is a specious argument for Joe Manchin to say that he didn't want to offend his coal industry folks. Bernie Sanders, a hater of coal and a huge advocate for tough and immediate action to fight man-made climate change and a huge advocate for massive environmental protection won the Democratic Primary by 15.6 points and might even have won the entire state in the General.
And I don't care that Donald Trump won North Dakota by almost 36 points. Those people didn't, and many of them wouldn't vote for Scott Pruitt and Heidi Heitkamp shouldn't have either
One of our greatest Democratic Presidents, Franklin D. Roosevelt, famously said that "The only thing to fear is fear itself". It's about time for Democrats to grow up, toughen up and stop being afraid of Republicans or Donald Trump . . .
And to remember that Franklin D. Roosevelt won 4 consecutive national elections . . . because he was fearless, he was principled and he was gutsy. ("Don't want to confirm my New Deal policies, Supreme Court? Ok then. I'll add 6 more Justices and we'll get those policies through!")
FDR and Bernie generated tremendous loyalty and support because they didn't emasculate themselves to the tyranny of polls and pollsters - they led and lead through the courage and integrity of their conviction. Do this, Democrats, and the Democrats, Independents and even some Republicans will come out of the woodwork for you.
There is no excuse for any Democrat to vote for a climate denier to head The Environmental Protection Agency and if The Democratic Party is ever going to find its soul and excite the country it must find its integrity first.
Donald Trump won West Virginia, North Dakota and many other states because he inspired voters who had never voted before to come out, register and vote for him. A new, fresh, courageous Democrat with conviction . . . a real Democrat . . . in these states and others, can light a fire with those who are dismayed that their Senators would vote against fighting the existential threat of climate change, against science and against their and their children and grandchildren's environment.
Who will those new, fresh courageous Democrats be? On behalf of your party, your states and our country, file your papers and begin your run against these old style politicians and Democrats, today!
(And I will dedicate an entire article to each of the first 3 qualified candidates who post a copy of their filing papers in West Virginia and in North Dakota in the comment section, below!)
Update: I’ve received a number of comments here and elsewhere about how Manchin and Heitkamp know their fossil fuel states, how they are the best we can hope for in those states and that we “need” them to try to re-take the majority and that they are there for us on the important votes.
Totally understand all of that but I wrote the article for two reasons:
1. We need Senators Manchin and Heitkamp to be with us next month when the Senate votes on the confirmation of an anti-choice, anti-gay, anti-environment, anti-civil and voting rights, anti-gun safety and pro-money in politics 48 year old Supreme Court pick who can serve on the Court, voting that way, for 30 or even 40 years, 10 times the tenure of a President. If Manchin and Heitkamp are catering to their states on Trump picks that Democrats CAN’T filibuster in order to buy some leeway on filibustering Neil Gorsuch next month then I will thank them, take this article down and even donate money to their upcoming campaigns. But I doubt this is the case.
2. Even more importantly, I wrote the article to add to the conversation (just before the vote for DNC Chair) about the heart and soul and future of The Democratic Party. I firmly believe that we either stand up to climate denial and environmental abuse, the denial of women’s rights, homophobia, allowing guns into the hands of dangerous people, voting rights abuses and big money in politics . . . and to Donald Trump . . . or we don’t have a brand or a party worth voting for. And, I firmly believe that if we do stand up to these things, and for their opposites, that we can be a great, exciting and compelling party and capture the hearts and energies of The American People. The Democratic Party, overwhelmingly, represents the policies and wishes of the majority of this country. We just need to have the guts to stand up for them and we WILL be The Majority Party in The United States for a long, long time!