John Dingell Day
Here in Michigan, we've been asked to recognize today as John Dingell Day, in honor of John Dingell, who is now the longest-serving representative in the history of Congress. He's also a Democrat and represents a portion of the highly urbanized area near Detroit.
Here is the thing I think is most interesting about John Dingell -- progressives today dislike him intensely over his position on fuel economy standards, while ignoring that basically every progressive advance over the last five decades had John Dingell standing somewhere near its center. It's a fulfillment of a very old criticism of basically any movement that it will eat its own.
I came to politics, and especially progressive politics, in large part because of the work John Dingell has done. That is, I became an environmentalist because I enjoy spending time outside, and much of that is rooted in a trip I took out West while in high school. There, we spent time in national parks and wilderness areas set aside for protection by the federal government so that people would have a place to go find adventure, self-fulfillment, and to a certain extent reconnect with the natural world.
At the time, my interest in environmental issues had less to do with pollutants and chemicals than it did in protecting our dwindling number of natural places left free from development. Some of those places were protected under the Wilderness Act of 1964, which had as one of its chief Congressional architects John Dingell. In fact, Dingell has had his hands on most every major piece of environmental legislation since, including the Clean Air Act and the National Environmental Protection Act.
It is true that Dingell has not been particularly aggressive on climate change, and helped to enable uncreative thinking among Detroit's automakers. On the other hand, CAFE standards -- which he's been criticized for holding up increases to -- haven't succeeded in reducing our dependence of foreign oil, evidenced by the fact that 30 years after they were adopted, we're now more dependent on foreign oil than ever. The reason for that isn't the fault of Detroit, but of how the nation as a whole has built its way of life. Criticism for supporting that rests on a great many more shoulders than John Dingell's.
The great irony is that undoubtedly a sizable number of people who have harshly criticized him over the last couple of years came to environmentalism and ultimately progressive politics by the same road that I did -- hiking in American wilderness areas, which inspired a reverence in nature and humility -- and now assail as unproductive and dinosaur-like the legislative legacy of the architect of that road.
Here is the thing I think is most interesting about John Dingell -- progressives today dislike him intensely over his position on fuel economy standards, while ignoring that basically every progressive advance over the last five decades had John Dingell standing somewhere near its center. It's a fulfillment of a very old criticism of basically any movement that it will eat its own.
I came to politics, and especially progressive politics, in large part because of the work John Dingell has done. That is, I became an environmentalist because I enjoy spending time outside, and much of that is rooted in a trip I took out West while in high school. There, we spent time in national parks and wilderness areas set aside for protection by the federal government so that people would have a place to go find adventure, self-fulfillment, and to a certain extent reconnect with the natural world.
At the time, my interest in environmental issues had less to do with pollutants and chemicals than it did in protecting our dwindling number of natural places left free from development. Some of those places were protected under the Wilderness Act of 1964, which had as one of its chief Congressional architects John Dingell. In fact, Dingell has had his hands on most every major piece of environmental legislation since, including the Clean Air Act and the National Environmental Protection Act.
It is true that Dingell has not been particularly aggressive on climate change, and helped to enable uncreative thinking among Detroit's automakers. On the other hand, CAFE standards -- which he's been criticized for holding up increases to -- haven't succeeded in reducing our dependence of foreign oil, evidenced by the fact that 30 years after they were adopted, we're now more dependent on foreign oil than ever. The reason for that isn't the fault of Detroit, but of how the nation as a whole has built its way of life. Criticism for supporting that rests on a great many more shoulders than John Dingell's.
The great irony is that undoubtedly a sizable number of people who have harshly criticized him over the last couple of years came to environmentalism and ultimately progressive politics by the same road that I did -- hiking in American wilderness areas, which inspired a reverence in nature and humility -- and now assail as unproductive and dinosaur-like the legislative legacy of the architect of that road.
