The DNC Platform and Climate Change

By Joe Alton

Bernie Sanders is having a good day. He’s thrilled to have influenced the most “progressive” Democratic Party platform since 1917. Oh wait, that was the communist revolution in Russia. I meant since the American Revolution. Political platforms are manifestos outlining the druthers of the party elite. They don’t carry the weight of law nor even the weight of a campaign promise. You’ll read candidates chided regularly for failing to deliver on a campaign promise (Obama 2007: “I can bring the country together…”), but how often do you read a hit piece on one of the parties not fulfilling a platform goal?

Part of the usual hysteria in the DNC platform includes climate change (Don’t dare deny it! The climate is changing; it always has and it always will). However, the Democratic National Committee’s 2016 platform wants formal inquiries into climate denial by fossil fuel companies such as Exxon Mobil. Treating them like tobacco companies, the platform says “all corporations owe it to their shareholders to fully analyze and disclose risks they face including climate risks. Those who fail to do so should be held accountable. Democrats also respectfully request the Department of Justice investigate allegations of corporate fraud on the part of fossil fuel companies accused of misleading shareholders and the public on the scientific reality of climate change.”

This time, though, the Democrats don’t just want a “hazardous to your health” sticker on the gas pumps. They want to punish oil companies for producing oil; you know, like countries in the Middle East do (they don’t).....To Read More....