Comments by "Don Taylor" (@dontaylor7315) on "How 'Strongmen' Like Trump Are Perpetuating the Climate Crisis | Opinions | NowThis" video.

Naomi Klein is one of my heroes.
10
@adoptedartist when it's said we're not doing enough the "we" is collective. People in your immediate circle may be doing everything they can, maybe even the majority in your city if it's that kind of a locale. But collectively, no we're not doing enough - particularly industry. The steps you're touting are really good but those are businesses that are responding directly to the demands of the green-minded, they're still exceptions in the overall corporate climate (pun unavoidable). Big oil for instance is not on board. And when you shop notice how extensively plastic-wrapped or overpackaged most of the merchandise is. Those are random examples but the point, as Klein says in the video, is that within the next eleven years we've got to cut our carbon footprint by 50-60 percent in this country alone so no, we're not doing enough yet, and industry as a whole is fighting regulation at every turn.
4
I hope so.
4
@ZeusandHades enough tiny votes can make a difference. Your tiny vote counts even when your candidate loses. We're starting to get new lawmakers in Washington who aren't rich, don't let the ruling class buy a piece of their campaigns and don't believe in corporate ownership of government. They weren't supposed to win but those tiny votes added up and they won anyway. We need more of them to swing the balance against the ruling class. Always vote.
2
@adoptedartist let me try to reassure you about Bernie. He's stubborn about insisting he's a socialist but his platform is not very far left of Eisenhower. He doesn't aim to eliminate businesses, just relegate them to their proper lane. Bossing government and dictating bills to lawmakers is not capitalism's legitimate role. Converting healthcare's purpose from health to profit is not capitalism's legitimate role. Bernie's focus is on taking down corporatism not capitalism. "I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations." Thomas Jefferson
2
@adoptedartist well I'm always trying to get Bernie another vote anytime there's a chance so I hope you like what you find. But I got so interested in soap-boxing for Bernie I didn't respond to the rest of your post. I hear you about needing a car. I have relatives in towns or suburbs with no public transport at all. Even in cities where it's available it depends on location whether it can help you much or not. I hear you too about computer use. Lots of people have to have one and even the green movement relies heavily on online networking and information sharing. But honestly, is infotech gonna crash the planet if we can rein in industries like drilling and deforestation? About scientific research, I simply don't have the knack. I'm a humanities kind of guy and I turn to others who have the aptitude when I need to understand something outside my zone. On government bailouts for the corporate giants, I'm really rankled about the way they handled the big one last decade. Lots of community banks didn't touch subprime or commit the other abuses that brought on the crash of '08. But instead of reinforcing their responsible behavior the government rewarded the culprits, the behemoths on Wall Street. Bernie's proposals are expensive but how is America the only industrialized nation that's too poor to afford to address these issues? In civilization they're already doing this stuff. The only things holding us back: bizarre sums of revenue go to the bloated privileged class, the MIC in particular, in various forms of corporate welfare; plus, ever since the Reagan Revolution it's been heresy to tax the ruling class. I'd prefer to go bolder than Bernie and Warren and tax them as heavily as we did in the Eisenhower years - it didn't hurt them at all, business was booming and they were living large. This has been a really fun dialogue, thanks!!
2
Klein knows it's not a matter of gender but if you count up the culprits we guys outnumber any females on the list ×several. So it's not all that inappropriate to say "men" if you're referring to the group as a whole.
1
@Trund27 and the corporations won't unless We The People set boundaries. Corporate ownership of government makes that an uphill fight. To end corporate control we've got a big job to do - elect Bernie and elect a Congress that will work with him on enacting reforms.
1
@adoptedartist well I'm pretty minimalist by disposition, partly because I'm old maybe. I don't have a car. I've never had a pc, laptop or tablet (computers are for the workplace is the way I always saw it, for me anyway). My only online device is my phone. Consumer demand is maybe the most powerful driver but voting is paramount. We'll either decide, collectively at the political and personal levels, to do it in time or ignore the elephant till everything falls apart - the climate, the weather and civilization. My faith in human nature doesn't incline me to be optimistic.
1
@adoptedartist I decided a little over ten years ago that I didn't want to drive in city traffic anymore and I have to admit that while I didn't like having that carbon footprint the former reason was stronger than the latter. I'm well situated for public transportation. I not only haven't needed a computer at home, I'm convinced many people don't and just don't realize it because they're so hooked into it. Until I switched from a landline to a smartphone I visited the library a couple of times a week to catch up on email etc, keeping a pen-and-paper list of any online tasks I wanted/needed to do. Even now with easy internet access, my shopping is all brick-and-mortar. I don't do gaming, FB, Twitter, Instagram etc. Pessimism aside, I can promise you I haven't given up. I've always voted not just nationally but in state and local elections. Most of my adult life I've wanted to end corporate ownership of government more than I want anything else. It's why I back Bernie. I'll be bitterly disappointed if government by the people can't be restored within my lifetime but I'm resigned to that likelihood (I'm 72) and I'll go right on supporting every leftist candidate I can vote for, or tell people about if they're not in my district. What I'm pessimistic about is whether it can be done within the timeframe before climate chaos takes down the whole structure of human society. I carry on as if it can be accomplished because what else can you do? I don't know what you mean about changing human nature. Anything that's intrinsic to the species can't be amputated. Anything that isn't can't be transplanted. I do think we have an instinct toward civilization but it's in continuous conflict with the more primitive instincts in our "lizard brain".
1
@adoptedartist I've been in favor of a guaranteed income, as we used to call it, since around 1970. I'm ok with Yang in a cabinet role like, say, secretary of Commerce. I'll like it more if he serves a term in Congress. That way we'll see what he's like in a governing (as opposed to rhetorical) context - how he specifically handles the nuts and bolts of making policy happen. Then in 2024 or 28 we'd know who we're voting for.
1