# This one weird trick can help any state or city pass clean energy policy **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 17, 2019, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-one-weird-trick-can-help-any-state-or-city-pass-clean-energy-policy/834110 "2019-05-17T10:05:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-one-weird-trick-can-help-any-state-or-city-pass-clean-energy-policy/834110/1 "2019-05-17T10:05:18Z")
Elect democrats. Elect democrats in veto-proof majorities to the legislature. Elect democratic governors. Elect democratic mayors, councilmen, and the like. That’s the trick, according to David Roberts of Vox: [Renewable energy policy: one weird trick to pass it in any state or city - Vox](https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2019/5/15/18624294/renewable-energy-policy-cities-states) > [@](#): > > There are many differences among these jurisdictions in size, ambition, and policy details, but one thing they all have in common is that Democrats have the power to pass policy despite Republican opposition. It’s not that no Republicans voted for any of these measures — there were R votes here and there, so some could charitably be called “bipartisan” — but that Republicans were not in a position to block any of them. > > Last year, Nevada had a Republican governor; he vetoed a clean energy mandate. This year it has a Democratic governor; he signed it. > > That’s how it works, in practice. When Democrats take control, in numbers that preclude Republican veto power, they pass thoughtful, ambitious policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and accelerate the clean energy transition. Where Republicans have the power to block such policies, they do. There are exceptions — all hail Illinois — but they are comparatively rare. The easiest way to pass these bills, legislature crucial to help ease the ongoing climate catastrophe, is not to woo republicans. It’s to make their voices irrelevant. There’s a lesson here. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-one-weird-trick-can-help-any-state-or-city-pass-clean-energy-policy/834110/2 "2019-05-17T10:58:31Z")
That trick works well for other policies, like universal healthcare coverage and fairer taxation. Just sayin’ ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-one-weird-trick-can-help-any-state-or-city-pass-clean-energy-policy/834110/3 "2019-05-17T12:43:41Z")
Mathematicians continue to confirm with growing confidence that Two plus Two is Four. In other news, Francisco Franco is still dead. ---
**Author:** ![Smitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Smitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smitty)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-one-weird-trick-can-help-any-state-or-city-pass-clean-energy-policy/834110/4 "2019-05-17T12:51:48Z")
If you want a certain policy enacted, elect politicians who support that policy. Yeah. Real great debate there. Absolute world beater. ---
**Author:** ![UnwittingAmericans](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d9b06d/32.png) [@UnwittingAmericans](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UnwittingAmericans)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-one-weird-trick-can-help-any-state-or-city-pass-clean-energy-policy/834110/5 "2019-05-17T13:03:01Z")
Ya really gotta hand it to this new wave of internet journalists. ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-one-weird-trick-can-help-any-state-or-city-pass-clean-energy-policy/834110/6 "2019-05-17T13:30:41Z")
> [@Smitty](#): > > If you want a certain policy enacted, elect politicians who support that policy. Yeah. Real great debate there. Absolute world beater. Isn’t it weird that these policies are partisan to begin with, though? ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-one-weird-trick-can-help-any-state-or-city-pass-clean-energy-policy/834110/7 "2019-05-17T14:18:06Z")
I started the ridicule in this thread, and I apologize for that. Fifty years ago the R’s were as likely as the Ds to have the best stance on an issue; compromise and bipartisan approaches made sense. > [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#): > > Isn’t it weird that these policies are partisan to begin with, though? Nowadays in the U.S.A., one party is almost always on the side of justice, science and humanity; the other party is almost always on the side of hatreds, injustice, inhumanity and lying. To write that we should vote for Ds instead of Rs is like reminding us that Two plus Two is Four. ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-one-weird-trick-can-help-any-state-or-city-pass-clean-energy-policy/834110/8 "2019-05-17T14:22:09Z")
But how did we get to this public situation of “reverse credibility”? In the 60s, the anti-establishment types said, “Don’t trust anyone over 30.” Now, it is, “Don’t trust anyone who knows what they’re talking about.” Many of these partisan clashes could be resolved by a simple appeal to the facts. How does carbon behave? How does math work? But somehow, we can’t do that.