They're worried and anxious - they should be. We all should be.
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When asked about how governments are responding to climate change, 65% of respondents agreed with the statement that governments are failing young people, 64% agreed that they are lying about the impact of actions taken and 60% agreed they were dismissing people’s distress. Only 36% agreed that governments are acting according to science. However, young people do feel reassured when governments act.
Ray says that the results of surveys such as this could play a part in climate-change lawsuits, because they might provide evidence of moral injury under human-rights law. “If the research can help hold government bodies accountable … that would be extraordinary. It would give a voice to children most vulnerable, and eco-anxiety can become less about ‘snowflakes’ in privileged settings worrying about polar bears — which is how detractors see it,” she says.
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a tip of the hat to Sukie
robert kagan on the constitutional crisis
A necessary read
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Today’s arguments over the filibuster will seem quaint in three years if the American political system enters a crisis for which the Constitution offers no remedy.
Most Americans — and all but a handful of politicians — have refused to take this possibility seriously enough to try to prevent it. As has so often been the case in other countries where fascist leaders arise, their would-be opponents are paralyzed in confusion and amazement at this charismatic authoritarian. They have followed the standard model of appeasement, which always begins with underestimation. The political and intellectual establishments in both parties have been underestimating Trump since he emerged on the scene in 2015. They underestimated the extent of his popularity and the strength of his hold on his followers; they underestimated his ability to take control of the Republican Party; and then they underestimated how far he was willing to go to retain power. The fact that he failed to overturn the 2020 election has reassured many that the American system remains secure, though it easily could have gone the other way — if Biden had not been safely ahead in all four states where the vote was close; if Trump had been more competent and more in control of the decision-makers in his administration, Congress and the states. As it was, Trump came close to bringing off a coup earlier this year. All that prevented it was a handful of state officials with notable courage and integrity, and the reluctance of two attorneys general and a vice president to obey orders they deemed inappropriate.
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a tip of the hat to Greg
06:31 in Current Affairs, General Commentary | Permalink | Comments (0)