Organization’s Objective
One glance at national polls tells us that Americans are fed up with oil addiction, increasingly concerned about global warming, and hungry for alternatives. It is now clear that sweeping change on the energy front is very likely over the next five to ten years. It is significantly less clear that the answer will not be increased domestic drilling, further militarization of the Middle East and other producing areas, nuclear power, tar sands, and liquefied coal.
Politicians of both parties are taking steps to prove their independence from Big Oil. But there’s a long distance from proposing legislation that is unlikely to pass, to actually ending oil addiction. For example, although Democratic leadership in the House and Senate has now fully embraced anti-oil rhetoric, they remain relatively timid in their policy prescriptions. Unless significant pressure is brought to bear, mainstream Democratic solutions are unlikely to be a dramatic improvement over the status quo.
This is an important point to bear in mind at this moment. If Democrats do indeed capture the Presidency, as well as Congress, in 2008 it will be more important than ever to step up grassroots pressure for systemic change.
This is not the time to demand a tinker or a tweak of our energy system – this is the time to demand transformation. Our demands must be broad, bold, and visionary – we must demand a separation of oil & state, at both the domestic and international levels.
Therefore our Separation of Oil & State campaign is focused not on policy prescriptions but on breaking the patronage relationship between the oil industry and Congress. It’s a relatively easy thing to promise possible legislation in the indeterminate future that might reach the floor and would almost certainly be vetoed. It’s harder, but much more measurable and specific, to forsake oil industry campaign contributions and thus turn away from the industry. Of course we are supportive of progressive policy initiatives – but our analysis remains that until our government is less beholden to the oil industry, change will not happen in a fundamental way.
