What Biden has done is to cut the issuance of drilling leases to the minimum required by law, pass the Inflation Reduction Act, enact a regulation to force vehicle electrification, and similarly force fossil fuels out of most power plants.

What Biden has not done: stop issuing drilling permits or impose export restrictions on fossil fuels. The former has some serious limits because of how the courts treat the right to drill as a property right once you hold a drilling lease, and the latter is simply untested.

  • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    It’s politically unpopular to do what need to be done

    No, a majority of voters want action on climate change, unfortunately a majority of elected representatives don’t, because most get fossil fuels donations to their campaigns.

    Moderate policies are popular policies.

    Not as popular as progressive policies…

    That’s kind of the whole point of American neoliberalism… alienate the left because “what are they going to do, vote R?”

    Then move slightly to the right in a perpetual misguided attempt to steal the conservatives from republicans.

    We’ve been trying that for 30 years now. The only result has been instead of slow progress, we take 10 steps back when republicans are in control, and moderates demand we worship them on the rare occasions we take five steps forward.

    It’s not working, and that should be pretty obvious to anyone who knows recent American history.

    Fighting extremism with moderation has never worked tho, that should be obvious to everyone.

    • ImFresh3x@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      They want action without any downside. Not taxes. No economic hardship. Just like everyone wants $2 worth of governance for $.50. When polled on individual policies most people are very progressive. When it comes time to pay for all of it they get very picky, and vote for candidates that will do nothing. And that’s the popular outcome currently. It’s the mean of opinion. We aren’t as progressive as we would like to be.