I am not a naive technocratic fool
Old and in the way is what I heard them say.
They used to heed the words he said, but that was yesterday. (Garcia & Grisman 1973)
Dear Readers – I write as if we still lived in a democratic country where citizens still had a voice in public policy and where facts and science based advocacy still had a role in democratic deliberation and public policy.
I’m not delusional or naive. I don’t think that those conditions actually currently exist. (A Princeton University professor’s research supports my view).
But they did in my lifetime. At least marginally.
I can personally attest to that fact, as during my career, I’ve written the text of: 1) provisions of the NJ Constitution (i.e. the dedication of the Corporate Business Tax); 2) the text of NJ legislation (e.g. the Watershed Management Act, the Highlands Act, the Toxic Packaging Reduction Act, the Dry Cell Battery Management Act, the Grace Period law and the embarrassing lame non-regulatory Ocean And Coastal Protection Council); 3) numerous DEP regulations and plans (e.g. from the DEP RCRA Corrective Action program; to Solid Waste and recycling planning, permitting, and waste flow enforcement; to Category One stream classifications and 300 foot buffers; DEP water quality standards for phosphorus, and to the DEP regulations that protect Highlands forests); 4) shielded numerous NJ’s laws and regulations from challenge as illegal trade barriers under GATT and NAFTA by working with the Clinton Administration’s US Trade Representative; 5) Gubernatorial Executive Orders; 6) DEP loans, grant agreements, and allocations of “private activity bond cap” of several hundred million dollars; and 7) National Governor’s Association policies, and various NGA policy initiatives (under Gov.’s Kean, Florio, and McGreevey).
I’ve also supported many local grassroots campaigns that stopped bad regional projects, including the expansion of sewering of Cape May, extension of Trenton’s water and sewer capacity to serve corporate sprawl development in Hopewell, cancellation of the proposed Mercer County garbage incinerator, and numerous proposed DEP regulatory rollbacks.
I didn’t forget all this. Just the opposite: I now write to expose how the granular and specific validates the larger context.
I drill down and get into the scientific and regulatory weeds not because I fail to understand the big picture and political power and the ideological constraints and US political economy.
In case it were not obvious, I just thought it important to make clear that when I write to recommend that NJ media, or NJ environmental groups or climate activists, or legislators do actually something specific, I’m just writing to expose the extent of corporate power and the systemic and pervasive institutional corruption.
I am not so naive as to expect that they would actually do the right thing.
I’m trying to expose what they are not doing.
What passes today for environmental advocacy is pure corporate Neoliberal Democratic party sham. The leaders of environmental groups are either incompetent, cowards, shadow Neoliberal corporatists, or straight up corrupt (hello, NJ Audubon)!).
That sham now parades under what Professor Nancy Fraser called “Progressive Neoliberalism”, but what many call “identity politics” and deride as “woke”.
In a functioning democracy, with independent media and with credible environmental groups, there would be news stories and grassroots campaigns and enormous political pressure to actually do the things I recommend.
Yesterday’s post demanding legislative oversight of the DEP BASF corporate sweetheart deal is a perfect example of what I’m talking about. I’ve written scores of these kind of posts with those same kind of “demands”. They are almost always ignored by media and environmental groups – which should tell you something.
Of course, Senate Environment Committee Chairman Bob Smith and NJ Legislators will never act to hold a Democratic administration accountable. Gov. Murphy and his DEP get a pass.
Of course these same politicians and institutions would never act to hold corporate power accountable and protect the public interest.
Of course the”woke” NJ environmental group leaders will give an openly gay man as DEP Commissioner a pass – anything else would be a an “attack” on allies, or diversity, or gay people.
As a heads up, tomorrow’s post will continue in this vein. I don’t care. Make the bastards at least publicly explain why they refuse to act.
Please, by all means, work to advance the ideas I recommend.
But please don’t think that I actually think that any of the corrupt institutions will actually do so.