Environment & Energy
Related: About this forumKeystone, Patriotism, And The White Working Class
Keystone, Patriotism, And The White Working Class
The Washington Monthly
The Keystone reveals a rift between rich Americans who don't pay taxes and working-class Americans who do; between rich Americans who don't want to rebuild America, for Americans, and working-class Americans who do.
By John Stoehr
-snip-
Activists hope Obama will veto the bill out of concern for an already overheated planetthe refining and consumption of Canadian tar-sands oil results in double the amount of carbon emitted into the atmosphere. But that rationale is unlikely. The president is probably going to argue the Congress exceeded its constitutional authority. In crossing an international boundary, the Keystone is executive-branch turf.
But I wonder if this might be an opportunity, at least a rhetorical opportunity best understood in a somewhat different context. That context is the Democratic Partys dismal performance among white working-class voters, who generally believe the Republican Party represents their interests even though it doesnt.
Why does the white working class even matter to Democrats? Doesnt the demographic tide favor them? Yes, but as Andrew Levison has argued, the Democrats still need white working-class voters. Without them, the party will scarcely attain the majoritarian momentum it needs to advance a truly progressive agenda. To be blunt, without them, demographics for the Democratic Party isnt destiny. Its doom.
The question is how to reach them. Democratic strategists cyclically scratch their heads in disbelief at white working-class voters acting in contrast to their interests. But such behavior shouldnt be all that surprising. After all, voting is the result of emotion at least as much as it is the result of tactical decision-making. And this is where I think the presidents expected veto of the Keystone bill is connected to the white working class. If theres one thing white working class voters respond to, it is emotional appeals to their deep and abiding sense of patriotism (the Republicans long ago mastered the art of such appeals). But Obama has an opportunity to shift the rhetorical landscape in favor of the Democrats by vetoing the Keystone bill in the name of country.
-snip-
First, the pipeline isnt going to help many Americans. Indeed, the Republicans never let a moment go by without reminding us that Obamas own Department of State estimates that thousands of jobs will emerge from the $8 billion construction of the pipeline. But a majority of those jobs are seasonal. Once the project is completed, about 35 jobs will endure, according to the very same government estimate.
Second, the pipeline is going to help many Canadians. The Keystone is one of five proposed pipelines needed to profit from billions being invested in the extraction of tar-sands crude. This handful of pipelines tops the list of Canadas national priorities. According to Mark Dowie, in The Washington Spectator, if even one of the pipelines is stymied, Prime Minister Stephen Harpers dream of creating a petro-state will die. So pressure is mounting. Harper, Canadas oil companies, and their very wealthy investors around the world want to see the Keystone built. In the United States, it will create a flurry of temporary activity, but the long-term rewards will be entirely enjoyed by Canadians.
{all emphasis added}
Read More
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/ten-miles-square/2015/02/keystone_patriotism_and_the_wh054204.php
..
marym625
(17,997 posts)Of attention to eminent domain. The amount of private land that will be taken to build the pipeline should be shouted from rooftops.
If there's one thing that working class people (which is what I am) don't like is government taking the land that families work hard to keep. That sometimes have been in a family for generations. If we make sure to mention that every court action against the owners of the pipeline have been won by TransCanada. In each case they claimed to be a public utility rather than the private corporation they are.
There should be much more press on what land has been stolen, the people that had their land stolen and how many more people will loose their homes.
How a Canadian company is getting away with this is beyond me. Don't care if President Obama vetoes it, none of it should have ever been allowed to be built.