Tim Walz Will Turbocharge Climate Action By The Harris Administration – CleanTechnica

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The election hasn’t happened yet, but Kamala Harris will win the presidency of the United States in November by a margin so large that no one will be able to falsely claim the voting process was irregular. And when that happens, Tim Walz will be at her side, helping to make meaningful climate policies politically possible, policies that will put the United States at the forefront of climate action among all the nations of the world.

Tim Walz has already done it in his home state of Minnesota, where he signed a new legislative initiative into law in 2023. That law commits Minnesota and its utility industry to providing 100% clean energy by 2040 — a major policy objective that passed the state legislature by one vote largely because of the skill Tim Walz has at building consensus on issues that often lead to fractures rather than cohesion. Even Joe Manchin, the senator from West Virginia who has been a constant thorn in the side of the Biden administration, calls Tim Walz “the real deal,” saying he “can think of no one better … to help bring our country closer together and bring balance back to the Democratic Party.”

The lunatic fringe masquerading as the Republican Party was quick to label Walz as an off-the-wall extremest, as if their own platform, as set forth in the draconian and dystopian Project 2025, was not the most extreme repudiation of the founding principles set forth in the Constitution since the southern states sought to dissolve the union in order to make slavery the foundation of the country as it expanded westward. JD Vance, the “cat lady” candidate for vice president, was quick to label Tim Walz a “San Francisco-style liberal.”

Tim Walz Tells It Like It Is

One of the things that sticks in Vance’s craw is a program advanced by Walz to provide meals to young people in Minnesota during the summer school holiday. Oh, the horror! Walz had a response for Vance. “Kids are eating and having full bellies so they can go learn, and women are making their own health care decisions, and we’re a top five business state, and we also rank in the top three of happiness. The fact of the matter is,” where Democratic policies are implemented, Walz said, “quality of life is higher, the economies are better, educational attainment is better. So yeah, my kids are going to eat here, and you’re going to have a chance to go to college, and you’re going to have an opportunity to live where we’re working on reducing carbon emissions. Oh, and by the way, you’re going to have personal incomes that are higher, and you’re going to have health insurance. So if that’s where they want to label me, I’m more than happy to take the label.”

Walz then called Vance and his Repugnican colleagues “weird,” which is a much kinder, gentler epithet than what the GOP likes to use against its opponents. The word has become a major thread of the campaign. Vance has built his political career by railing against the inclusionary principals promoted by Democrats. The Yale Law School graduate was introduced to the rarefied world of venture capitalism by Peter Thiel and is the embodiment of the adage “When you’re accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression.” To show his fondness for his fellow humans, he has written an endorsement for a forthcoming book entitled Unhumans by Jack Posobiec — best known for promoting the conspiracy theory that Democrats ran a satanic child abuse ring beneath a popular Washington pizzeria.

In Praise Of Dictators

The book praises Augusto Pinochet and Francisco Franco, two of the greatest monsters in human history, and claims modern progressivism is just the latest incarnation of an ancient evil dating back to the late Roman Republic and continuing through the French Revolution and Communism to today. The book argues that “great men of means” are often required to crush this scourge because “Democracy has never worked to protect innocents from the unhumans.” Herman Melville once unmasked the vitriol behind such sentiments with this quote: “Of all the preposterous assumptions of humanity over humanity, nothing exceeds most of the criticisms made on the habits of the poor by the well-housed, well-warmed, and well-fed.”

In his blurb for Unhumans, Vance goes all in on his praise for Posobiec and co-author Joshua Lisec. “In the past, communists marched in the streets waving red flags. Today, they march through H.R., college campuses and courtrooms to wage lawfare against good, honest people. Jack Posobiec and Joshua Lisec reveal their plans and show us what to do to fight back.” Tim Walz calls such people “weird,” and that may be the kindest thing any of us could say about such unhinged lunatics.

Minnesota Clean Energy Law

The Minnesota clean energy law is more ambitious than a similar standard that President Biden tried but failed to include in his 2022 climate agenda. Activists see it as a model for future climate legislation at either the state or national level. “We could not be more excited about Governor Walz’s leadership on climate,” Bill Holland, state policy director for the League of Conservation Voters, told the New York Times. “I do not think when he campaigned in 2018 we would have called him a climate champion, and he has now made it a centerpiece.”

Tim Walz will bring his climate résumé to the White House at a crucial moment in the nation’s efforts to address global warming, the New York Times suggests. President Biden pledged the United States will cut its carbon dioxide emissions 50% below 2005 levels by 2030, which scientists say major economies must do to avoid the most catastrophic impacts of warming. But even after Biden signed the biggest climate law in the nation’s history, the United States is on track to cut just 30 to 45% of its emissions by 2030.

Analysts said that Walz, who served six terms in Congress before becoming governor, could be particularly effective as a liaison to Congress on climate issues. “As a governor, he was able to bring rural and urban constituencies together around climate issues, to frame it in a way that was not just progressive,” said Allan Marks, a partner in the energy practice at Milbank LLP, a global law firm. “And when he was in the House, he reached across the aisle to Republicans. He has a very quiet, effective, behind the scenes way of working.”

The Takeaway

The Republicans think leadership is belittling others and feeding their own egos. Tim Walz is an old-time political professional, someone who thinks building bridges is more important than blowing them up. With Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the White House, the United States will have a chance to once again be a leading world power, a country that leads on climate policy while gathering support from a wide cross section of Americans who are sick and tired of self-aggrandizing buffoons who think the key to success is humiliating others while curating the most ridiculous combover in history.

Let me leave you with the words of Theodore Roosevelt, a symbol of the Republican Party as it was originally. “This country will not be a permanently good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a reasonably good place for all of us to live in.” Tim Walz is the right person to make the wisdom of Roosevelt a continuing part of a greater America. He is a former high school football coach who took a team that once had a record of 0–27 and turned it into a team that won a state championship. He is the kind of leader America so desperately needs, not some demagogue whose whole existence is built around self glorification.

With Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, the arc of history has shifted. The adults are now in charge and the forces of evil are in full retreat. But the battle is not won yet. Author George Nathan once observed, “Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote.” The decision is now up to us. We need a national outpouring in the upcoming election to sweep Harris and Walz into office with such an overwhelming plurality that no one will be able to question the legitimacy of their victory. But in addition, we need senators and members of Congress who will work to implement policies that benefit all Americans, not just a favored few.

Haile Sellassie said it best. “Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted, the indifference of those who should have known better, the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most that has made it possible for evil to triumph.” Now is the time for all of us to stand up and be counted. Make your voice heard in this election. Vote!