November 16, 2015 - 16:57
An addition to The Collapse of Western Civilization:
Shortly after the United States's 2008 presidential election, journalist Elizabeth Kolbert wrote an article describing the activism of Van Jones, who focused on the environmental movement, specifically "green jobs," as a means of combatting poverty. Jones's ideas had become very popular in 2007, when he convinced then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to support a "Clean Energy Jobs Bill." The measure, included in the Energy Independence and Security Act, was passed in December of that year. One year later, it seemed to be the perfect time for Jones's movement to take hold. The United States was struggling under a terrible recession that raised both gas prices and unemployment levels. Barack Obama, the nation's newly-elected first black president, was interested in the environmental movement and had developed a stimulus package that was supposed to bring the country out of the recession, partly through the creation of green jobs. Although the Obama administration enjoyed some success in both goals, its efforts were hampered when neoliberalism and the carbon-industrial complex fought back. Influenced by powerful lobbyists from the carbon-industrial complex, many members of Congress (mostly Republicans) convinced the American public that the stimulus package (and all attempts at creating a green economy) represented an overabundance of government control and government spending. They also highlighted the potential loss of jobs in the fields such as coal-mining, while ignoring the potential for job creation in green industries. In 2010, Republicans took control of the House, and in 2014, they gained a majority in the Senate. For all of Obama's presidency, they seemed to have one goal: block any bills the president supports. Thus, the polarization and corruption of America's political system prevented Jones's idea from having any significant amount of success.