The fossil fuel industry presents a clear and present danger
to national security, to world security, to human civilization, and to life on
earth. It even presents a clear and
present danger to the lives of owners of the fossil fuel industry! As Bob Dylan once said, "For them that think
death's honesty won't fall up on them naturally, life sometimes must get
lonely."
The fossil fuel industry has forfeited its right to exist in
its current form. If the United States can invade other countries, overthrow
their governments, and bomb their civilian populations, on the grounds that these
governments present a danger to national security, surely we can do what we
need to do to bring this rogue industry under control.
By bringing the fossil fuel industry under social control,
we can end fossil fuel subsidies and start to convert freed-up assets to the
production of renewable energy and the development of mass transit
systems. Nationalizing the fossil fuel
industry can liberate forces of creativity and innovation as we work together
to solve this unprecedented global crisis.
Far-fetched, perhaps, and sounding a bit un-American? Perhaps.
However, President Franklin D. Roosevelt nationalized industries during
World War II in the interests of national security. So there is precedent for nationalizing
industries when the risks of leaving them private are unacceptably high.
Unthinkable ideas become thinkable when people start
thinking about them. It wasn't long ago
that the idea of ending corporate personhood was a nutty idea in the minds of a
few fringe radicals. Now, state after
state is endorsing constitutional amendments to end the legal claim that "corporations
are people, my friend."
Of course, if we want to nationalize the fossil fuel
industry, ending corporate personhood will be a big, big help.
We need to work toward our goal one step at a time. First we need to bring the concept of
nationalizing the fossil fuel industry into public discourse. We need to bring the idea from the fringes
into the vocabulary of the mainstream.
At this stage, we can start by raising the slogan as a magnet. The whole dialogue will then start to shift
in that direction. If people call us
socialists, we can reply, "Sticks and stones will break my bones, but names
will never hurt me."
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