You can get it if you really want it
by Amy Boscov
Now that the Build Back Better bill has passed the House, people are assuming that it will be a struggle to get it past the Senate. It doesn’t have to be. In fact, the Democrats can pass this bill plus more if they really want to. The media has been framing the passage of the BBB bill as a battle within the Democratic Party, when really what is at stake is the future of the planet. The two true sides in this fight are corporate greed versus a liveable planet. While the media is reporting as if it were as inconsequential as a sports rivalry, it is actually a battle for survival, an absolute necessity (although not enough on its own) if we want to come anywhere near containing the climate crisis from being a runaway, uncontrollable nightmare.
The coming floods, droughts, food shortages, water shortages, wars for resources, and forced migrations will kill many millions of people and other species. How many millions — or billions- will be lost is a question no one should want to answer.
So how do you deal with a corporate media that has consistently and deliberately misrepresented the climate crisis? Being President of the country or the Majority Leader in the Senate comes with considerable power. Even if the media wants to trivialize the bill, they still have to report what the leaders are saying. So, Biden and/or Schumer need to call a press conference and lay out what is in the bill and why it is a necessity. Shame Manchin and Sinema for trying to destroy the future of the planet. Shame them for trying to make the average person suffer more than is necessary. Tell the people that Manchin would be destroying their future and be directly responsible for millions of deaths. It’s true. If we don’t act drastically in the fight against the climate crisis many millions and globally billions will die.
If the media were doing its job, we would all know what was in the bill and that it was actually necessary for survival. We would know that it will be paid for by taxing corporations and very wealthy people who won’t notice the difference. Instead the media frames the debate as a contest between progressives and so called moderates who are actually, pro-extinction extremists. There is nothing moderate about putting the financial welfare of a few people or corporations over the future of the planet, to destroy the planet for short term profit. Yet reasonable and safe are words associated with these “moderates”. To win you need to alter the frame the media is using. You need to call a press conference and explain this. Show the record corporate profits that are behind the current inflation. Remind people of the billions in the cost of inaction.
And why do our leaders go along with this framing? If you want to pass a bill that is absolutely necessary for the future, do you not say so,clearly, in a way the media has to represent? Do you think President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society bills which gave us Medicare, Head Start, aid for housing, environmental protection, mass transit, etc. were passed easily without confrontation? Of 87 bills the Johnson administration submitted, 84 (or 96%) were signed into law. Johnson did not have a reputation for being conciliatory. He was a consummate politician who drove a hard bargain and got what he wanted for the people.
Did President Franklin Roosevelt have an easy time getting the New Deal passed? He said he “welcomed the anger of his enemies”. He was ready to fight for the people. If you want to be a champion of the people and make their lives better, it’s certainly possible. But you have to try. Democrats have taken the unnecessary position of helplessness for years, and one can conjecture that they don’t really want to win because they are serving their corporate masters instead of the people. If they want to be reelected they need to show that they can and will deliver for the people.
If Democrats want this bill to pass they need to call a press conference and tell the truth.This isn’t a fight between progressives and regressive Democrats. It’s a fight for survival. Call it what it is. If you want this bill to pass you can get it. But you must try. Try and try. Actually try. Put yourself out there to the press and demand that they report what you say and then tell the truth. This bill is the beginning of our fight for survival as a species.
Amy Boscov, Ph.D, is a Communications team member with Sunrise Movement Baltimore and president of Earth Rising Foundation.
Follow Sunrise Baltimore on Twitter (@SunriseBmore), FaceBook (@SunriseBaltimore) and Instagram (sunrisemovementbaltimore). Follow Earth Rising Foundation on Twitter (@earthrisingfdn), Facebook (@EarthRisingFoundation), and Instagram (earthrisingfoundation).
