By Judith Gayle | Political Waves
Al Gore has been making the book circuit, touting his new offering, “The Future: Six Drivers of Global Change.” We pretty much allowed Bush and company to make a loon of Al in 1999 — although he didn’t help himself much, truth be told — but when you listen to the guy, you have to admit, he’s sharp. I appreciate that. He doesn’t just give an opinion, he tells us why he thinks it’s so. Like any accomplished academic, he doesn’t just site a fact, he lets us know about the study that produced it and what else it found.
Gore is a historian and a futurist, and I’m glad he’s being given an opportunity to talk about the world and where he sees it going. His newest book talks less about climate emergency (although that’s a given) than about the urgency of reclaiming democracy, coming to a unified vision on sustainability, and learning to manage the enormous new technological discoveries of this century. Listening to him speak is like getting a B12 shot. In a nation that’s created a cult following around what’s shallow and simplistic, beatified a culture war on intelligence and higher education, and declared mindless obedience to self-defeating anachronism, we desperately need to hear smart voices and real facts.
It doesn’t take much to realize just how irrational the nation has become in these last few years. Turn on cable news and watch awhile, it’s all there. Watch John McCain make an ass of himself, determined to brand Chuck Hagel a traitor on the Iraq war, particularly Bush’s ‘surge’ and therefore disloyal to “American hero” David Petraeus. Find the video of Lindsey Graham stammering (with a hint of embarrassment) about the plunder and rape that we might all face if we don’t have an arsenal of weapons at the ready, or better yet, let Jon Stewart give you that reflection. And while I’ll admit that I look at politics differently than many, I can’t be the only person shaking my head at old timers defending things that — like Elvis — have already left the building. I can’t be the only person who thinks these conversations are an enormous waste of time and energy that we could better use to rebuild and restore, rather than fight to remain entrenched in old paradigm thinking.