Last night, the House of Representatives dropped the controversial plan to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling. Rep. Charles Bass, a Republican from New Hampshire, apparently led the way in persuading the leaders to drop the proposal.
As a person of some environmentalist principles, I'm convinced that this isn't just a victory for environmentalists. It's a victory for everyone. However, there is the fact that President Bush had declared arctic drilling to be his "number one energy priority." Whoops. So, from the perspective of the White House this is another "number one priority" to be scuttled. I'm not terribly sympathetic, but still, this has to be getting a little old.
The question becomes, what does the left do now? How do we (or, DO we) capitalize on this turn of events? Who's on the bench for political leadership? Are there any Democrats who are substantively different from Republicans? Can we do anything other than mimic the right in our organizing strategies?
About the last question... I do have some ideas. I think any leadership from the left MUST look different from what the political right does. I don't think we can or should use their tools for our agenda. I think it's going to be all about grassroots, community organizing. But we need to get started -yesterday.
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