President Biden has made clear that climate change is central in his policy thinking. As reported everywhere, on his first day in office he signed a number of executive orders. One is for the US to rejoin the Paris Agreement. Another to revoke the permit for the Keystone XL oil pipeline. A third to direct all federal agencies to review and take appropriate action on at least 100 of the Trump’s policies or regulations. The basis for addressing them is that the Biden Administration consider them damaging to the environment or public health.
Biden’s Administration also announced the induction of progressive thinkers to join the Department of Energy. And he has re-established a panel to calculate the social cost of carbon technology use.
I believe the likelihood of President Biden being successful in driving that vision is enhanced precisely because President Trump came before him.
If Hilary Clinton had won the US election four years ago, I don’t think the political will would have been there in the same way it is now. It is as though the reactionary actions by President Trump have given extra impetus to the imagination today.
I liken it to a heavy spaceship trying to get to Mars that uses the impulse given to it by an orbit around the Moon to slingshot itself off into space.
The Military
Meanwhile, in Letter From An American, I read that an investigation by NPR. revealed that nearly one in five of the rioters charged with the assault on the Capitol so far have served in the military. That contrasts with the general population, of whom only 7% are military veterans.
If that ratio holds true when all those who took part have been charged then we ought to ask some questions.
Are they predisposed to their political position because of their time in the military? Are they radicalised by people in the military?
What risk does this pose for Biden in the same way that it posed a risk for President Anwar Sadat? The bad thing is that it only takes one. The good thing is that if the peace holds then it’s a thumbs up for democracy in the hearts and minds of the people.
The fact that climate change is central in President Biden’s thinking might be the factor that saves him from alienating some violent people to the point that they want to take action.