My Friend Al Gore Speaks Again!

I raised a couple eyebrows when, back in July, I wrote that Al Gore had endorsed my campaign for Congress.

Well, not my campaign exactly, but he had in fact laid out and endorsed a plan for moving quickly toward a renewable energy economy – with 100% of our electricity from renewable energy within 10 years – that was remarkably similar to the central focus of my campaign. (A position that has still not been taken, regrettably, by the incumbent I ran against, Chris Van Hollen.)

Four months later, Al Gore has done it again. This Sunday in the New York Times, Mr. Gore laid out a further development of his vision.  And once again, it looks remarkably like what I was saying at houseparties and Rotary Club meetings across the district these past several months: an answer to global warming that is also an answer to our energy and economic crises.

Massive conversion to renewable energy, a nationwide program of conservation including insulation/retrofitting of homes for maximum energy efficiency, and pushing Detroit to convert to building electric cars and plug-in hybrids are three of the his Gore’s program planks, as they were three of the four on which I campaigned. He also made a cap on carbon emissions another central plank, and the question is whether we will get an ineffective cap and trade system, or a strong cap and dividend system – the latter being the system I advocated for, as do most other global warming advocacy groups. (Mr. Van Hollen is co-sponsor of a cap and trade bill.)

It is also great to see the former Vice-President and Nobel Prize winner dismiss “clean coal” as a “cynical and self interested illusion.” I can’t wait to hear the Democrats now controlling our government start echoing that reality.

There are a few not insignificant problems with Mr. Gore’s program.  One is that he makes no mention at all of mass transit, which must be a crucial ingredient of any major movement away from a fossil fuel-based society.

An even more important problem is his sole focus on large, (inevitably) corporate-controlled renewable energy projects.  Solar is good, but generating that solar power locally is far more effective and efficient than generating it at large plants in the southwest and then buzzing it across the country.  As with everything else in the age of global warming, going local must also become a fundamental guiding principle in energy generation.  (Generating more energy locally will also mitigate some of the need to rebuild our energy transmission grid, the fifth of Mr. Gore’s program planks.)

Even with these problems, however, Mr. Gore’s renewed challenge is far closer to what we urgently need to do than any of the plans currently in discussion by our newly elected (or re-elected) leaders.  It needs to be urgently considered.

One final and all-important note. Virtually everyone has caught on to the political wisdom of calling this a “Green New Deal” or an “Apollo project,” or some other reference to indicate the significance of what we must do. (I myself have always said that the conversion to a renewable energy economy needs to be our generation’s New Deal, Marshall Plan and Apollo Project all rolled into one.)

But using the rhetoric and actually marshalling the resources to get the job done are two entirely different things. The money that our new administration and Congress are willing to put into this effort needs to match the rhetoric.

Bear in mind that we are currently spending roughly $150 billion a year in Iraq. Our military expenditures for 2007 were estimated at $625 billion, and this fall’s Wall St. bailout package, while still growing, started out at $700 billion. Any real attempt to convert to a renewable energy economy must come with dollar figures along those lines. If it’s only a fraction of those, you’ll know the people offering it aren’t really serious.

To read Al Gore’s op-ed from Sunday’s New York Times, click here.

Letter from a young supporter

As a first time candidate, I find it difficult to know what to say. (And for those of you who know me, you know how unusual that is!)

A thousand different thoughts are running through my mind, and even if I could figure out the select few to say in “debriefing” this campaign, I know this is not the time. Our nation is in a moment of great excitement and hope right now (not to mention exhaustion), and analysis can wait until later.

Mostly, though, I want to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you who contributed to this campaign – with your time, your talents, your money, your energy and your enthusiasm.  You don’t see those things in a number at the end of the day, but it’s what made this campaign real, fulfilling and alive. Hundreds of people joined to help our campaign, and collectively we reached out to thousands more.  And against ridiculous odds we were able to break through the mainstream media’s “blackout,” raise new issues, get the incumbent’s attention in a major way, and garner almost 6,000 votes. (Probably more than 6,000, once the absentee ballots are counted.) Those of you who know politics and the electoral system will realize just how significant an accomplishment that is for a first time, third party candidate. And what a foundation it is to build on for the future. There was no “losing” in this campaign.

All of that work and time and energy is based on hope, of course, and the message that we put out (and will likely put out again in 2010 – stay tuned!), is immensely appealing to people, once we can break though all the barriers to reach them. Turning away from militarism and mindless, casino-style capitalism while embracing a monumental green energy revolution is and will continue to be the only path forward to create a world worthy of our children (heck, and ourselves). The work we did in this race has brought us a little bit closer to that future.

That same level of effort and involvement is what we’ll continue to need to make that vision of the future into a reality, even with an Obama Administration. As the President-elect himself said, his victory on Tuesday is not itself the change we are looking for, but just the chance for a change. And, as it has been throughout our history, the only way to take advantage of this opportunity for change is to continue working just as hard or harder in the coming year as we did in this past one.  Ultimately it is people who change history, not Presidents (or members of Congress).

So that’s where I’ll leave it for now, and once again with my profound thanks and gratitude to all of you.

Oh, and the letter – I received this in the campaign mailbox the morning after the election, and it rings of the promise that has animated this campaign and which will carry us forward.  It is for you too:

“Dear Mr. Clark -

I found out about you five days ago and decided to check out your website because I support the Green Party. What really got my attention was how you disagree with Congressman Van Hollen on a lot of things, like ending the Iraq War (something that I agree with.) Even if you don’t win this year, I hope you run in 2010 and I would like to contribute to your campaign.

By the way, I’m 12 years old.

-Jake Baskin
Chevy Chase, MD”

With warm wishes and renewed energy for a better tomorrow,

Gordon Clark