Yea, there thou mak’st me sad and mak’st me sin
In envy that my Lord Northumberland
Should be the father to so blest a son—
A son who is the theme of honour’s tongue,
Amongst a grove the very straightest plant,
Who is sweet Fortune’s minion and her pride—
Whilst I, by looking on the praise of him
See riot and dishonor stain the brow
Of my young Harry. O, that it could be proved
That some night-tripping fairy had exchanged
In cradle clothes our children where they lay,
And called mine Percy, his Plantagenet!
Henry IV, Part 1 has always been my favourite of Shakespeare's plays and this my favourite passage from that play. It's from the first scene as King Henry laments upon taking the measure of his own son, the wastrel who becomes Henry V, against the magnificent achievements of Northumberland's son, Hotspur.
I suppose a lot of fathers wind up sharing Henry's worries about their own sons. Mine certainly did and I gave him no end of good cause for it.
Sometimes I share a similar dismay about our political leadership or what passes for leadership in the neoliberal era. Whether it's your guy or the other side's guy, they're all a bit dismal even if some are a notch worse than others.
What leads me to vent is a guy by the name of Jay Inslee, the governor of the state of Washington. Inslee, the progressive governor of one of the most progressive states in the USA.
It was Jay Inslee who, when Rachel Notley grumbled about cutting off oil supplies to British Columbia, came out and said that, if necessary, Washington would ensure that BC had the oil it needs. It reminded us that British Columbia had a powerful adversary next door but it also had a powerful friend just downstairs.
Now, it seems, Jay Inslee is considering a run for the Democratic presidential nomination and, if he runs, he intends to focus his campaign on climate change.
Inslee is looking to carry the lessons learned from a long career of incremental wins and heartbreaking losses on climate policy to the national stage as a possible presidential contender.
"I learned one of the key talents is persistence," he told NBC News in an interview. "Climate change is not going away, and neither are we."
As a generation of young activists, led by new voices like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., rise to the forefront, they may want to pull up a seat next to the 67-year-old governor and hear his stories.
More than a decade before this year's rallies for a Green New Deal — a plan to spend big on a rapid transition to renewable energy — Inslee, in speeches, op-eds and a book, was calling for a "moonshot" federal project modeled on the Apollo space program to slash emissions.
...His potential entry into the wide-open 2020 Democratic primary contest with a climate-focused campaign comes amid an intense debate over how to marry environmental sustainability with political sustainability, a question he's grappled with like few others. He believes the fate of the world depends on getting the answer right.
"That's what's at stake here," Inslee said. "A fundamental continuation of life and civilization as we've become accustomed to."I look around, from one end of Canada to the other, and I see no leader of the stature of Jay Inslee. I see no one - no prime minister, no federal cabinet minister, no premier - willing to acknowledge what Inslee states so plainly, that what is at stake here is nothing less than the continuation of life and civilization as we've known it. What in their priorities can possibly rise to that significance? Yet I hear none of them calling for a "moonshot" scale effort to salvage as much of our civilization as we still can.
What I hear is a prime minister, enfeebled by his betrothal to pipelines, arguing for a minuscule carbon tax amid the clamor of those who would rather do nothing. And that's when I have my own Henry IVth moment.
8 comments:
Talking a good game is easy, though I note the only other significant thing you’ve noted about this guy is that he promised to keep the oil flowing, which doesn’t sound nearly as climate change friendly as his “life or death” rhetoric does. Given he is a current governor, of what even you note is one of the most progressive states in the U.S., what has he actually done on the climate change front that makes him so worthy of your awe? Anything more impressive or significant than the (admittedly insufficient, but you have to start somewhere) carbon tax our PM is going to the mat for?
A superior mini-essay.
Inslee seems real; one is not so sure of the rather libertarian crowd running Seattle, and the seemingly thuggish police force there who overreacted during the Occupy Movement protests in 2011 and who have not since shown much sympathy at all to Latinos and immigrants of colour - shades of Toronto. Inslee may have to watch his back for being "progressive" if he is adjudged by the powers-that-be to make a false step beyond Bill Gates' idea of reality, which is pro- business at heart with a dash of social responsibility.
One can only hope that the forces of reaction, so strongly demonstrated by the resurgence of white armpit-scratching knuckle-draggers in Alberta, will not find real eco-politics too much to take. Gotta earn oil pay to put the flats of beer on the table each weekend and to get incensed enough to whine and complain about being badly treated by Ottawa and BC. We are not talking about intellectual giants among the general white populace of Washington, BC or Alberta. Never heard so much anti- indigenous claptrap as I did on my last BC visit to Penticton three years ago.
Reminded me of my job in Victoria BC 50 years ago (1966), where I was advised to purchase for bugger all ($8) an "Indian" hand-knit high quality sweater up around Duncan, but to make sure I washed the "bear grease" out of it before wearing. Then we all went off to the movies -- "The Sound of Music", after chomping down on KFC. Cognitive dissonance?
I remember the casual racism all too well, not least from my great aunt there labouring away as a top administrative aide in the provincial government. A formidable woman who saw off three husbands to their graves. WAC Bennett was running the show, and Flying Phil Gagliardi had ensured his legacy by naming the road up to Simon Fraser Gagliardi Way - his relatives here in Halifax found him a right hoot. On the bright side, Beautiful British Columbia magazine was in its heyday and the ferries were splendid.
BM
Jesus, BM, you had a chance to snag Cowichan sweaters at $8 a pop? The "grease" was the natural lanolin that made those sweaters so useful in the bush or out fishing.
I just went online and a genuine Cowichan will now set you back over $300. How much of that ever sees the pocket of a Cowichan knitter is questionable.
Even came across a site that sells vintage Cowichans going back to the 60s.
BC has had a sordid past with racism. A buddy of mine, Paul Workman, while working his way up the ranks of the CBC National, explored the presence of the Klan through the Hope-Princeton area and found it had the largest KKK following in Canada.
BC never settled native land claims before it joined Confederation. A condition of its entry was that it would retain the jurisdiction for dealing with the FNs. It used that jurisdiction as a means of running over their rights, a situation that has been the subject of several rulings of the SCC.
Successive waves of newcomers - the Japanese, Hindus, Sikhs and Punjabis by turns have had to endure a lot of racism until they got established and integrated into society.
BC is really two cultures: coastal and interior. On difficult issues we can fracture quite sharply. There's no way of telling how that will affect us in the difficult decades that lie ahead.
@ BJB - If you want to learn about Inslee's progressive cred, there's a lot you can discover on YouTube. Inslee has had tough fights with climate change holdouts in the state legislature and he's had his share of losses. He's still fighting.
From health care to immigration, Trump's travel ban to gun control, banning 'conversion therapy' and climate change, Inslee has been incredibly progressive, the more so in contrast to what we see on offer on this side of the border.
Gun control is a bit of gimme given the situation in the two countries, but as for conversion therapy, both Wynne’s government and Notley’s have both banned it as well, and when it comes to the travel ban, Trudeau has been and still is a major proponent of opposing such restrictions and facing the still quite heavy criticism of that decision head on and in person, as his town hall meeting in Regina this past week demonstrated.
I’m not questioning whether or not Inslee is a progressive, but you’re not just saying that. You’re saying he’s vastly more progressive than the leaders we have on this side of the border. That I am not seeing, unless you are either vastly overestimating just how progressive Inslee is, or nearly completely ignoring those same qualities and positions in our own politicians for some reason
I like this historical post.
May I have permission to quote you on a piece I am writting? Anyong
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