You’ve probably seen the video in which young climate activists confronted Sen. Dianne Feinstein last Friday.
Middle and high school student activists carrying a large handwritten letter to Feinstein urged her to sign on to the Green New Deal and take the dramatic action necessary to save the planet. Feinstein dismissed the young activists and told them that they could learn a thing or two by listening — and to run for office when they’re old enough.
When the students urged Feinstein to adopt the only kinds of radical transformations that will allow them to have a future on this planet, she said condescendingly: “You come in here, and you say it has to be my way or the highway. I don’t respond to that. I’ve gotten elected, I just ran. I was elected by a million vote plurality. And I know what I’m doing.”
While Feinstein’s attempts to silence and shame these young activists is disgusting, their responses are what is so important: they aren’t quelled, but instead point out all the reasons that they can’t “wait and see.” They challenge Feinstein, stating: “We have 12 years to turn this around.”
The socialist left should be paying attention to these answers. These young activists are radicalizing quickly, and they will gain a clearer understanding of the limitations of appealing to the Democrats for change. Where will they turn after that?
We often warn against “orienting on the Democrats” as a strategy for change precisely because of politicians like Feinstein and House Speaker Nancy “Green dream or whatever they call it” Pelosi.
The Democrats’ most important initiatives — the ones they point to like the original New Deal — came about not because of visionary party leaders, but instead as a response to levels of social unrest, including mass strike waves, so high that the politicians in Washington believed significant change was necessary.
There is a new…