Message memo for Bernie: Attack fossil fuels, not "automobiles" in general. [View all]

[True Blue Door]

It's still early days, and a small matter, but small matters in messaging add up over time. Bernie Sanders had this to say recently:

It would look like a tax on carbon; a massive investment in solar, wind, geothermal; it would be making sure that every home and building in this country is properly winterized; it would be putting substantial money into rail, both passenger and cargo, so we can move towards breaking our dependency on automobiles. And it would be leading other countries around the world.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2015/05/01/bernie-sanders-signals-aggressive-challenge-to-hillary-clinton/

All good except the negative emphasis on automobiles. They're not just a form of transportation in this country, they're also a strong social institution. We can and should pursue rail, but there's no reason to emphasize tension with the automobile - especially as electrical vehicles charged with renewable energy build up infrastructure and jobs in this country. There's just no purpose to taking that sort of tack with the message, especially since, as I note, automobiles are a cultural institution.

Be a friend to Tesla Motors and to rail, not an enemy of "the automobile." Break our dependency on fossil fuels, not the concept of individuals and families having their own transportation. This is the kind of insensitivity to the consequences of messaging that candidates from the left often unwittingly step into. It adds absolutely nothing to the environmental message, and creates unnecessary and unproductive dissonance with prevailing culture.

Don't weigh down a powerful and necessary message about economic inequality with compulsive issue-profusion and dismissing cultural factors for the sake of being different. The left always steps on its own dick over that kind of thing. Attack fossil fuels and promote rail, but "the automobile" as a general concept is an American symbol.