Here were some of the very key problems ASIDE FROM WHETHER PEOPLE AGREE ON THE SCIENCE: 302 pages were added to the bill in the middle of the night before the congressmen were expected to vote. That just reeks of sneakiness, and I think you can agree that if the Republicans had done that to a bill when they had a majority to pass the bill, you would recognize it as sneakiness. So that was a huge red flag, and it was highly publicized all morning to the public.

Another massive problem was the projected household expense increases per family after the bill gets enacted. There were enough varied study groups reporting on the expenses associated with the bill, that it was reasonable for the general public to believe that their annual expenses would increase a minimum of $2000-$3000 per year. (That doesn’t include pass through costs–just energy cost increases.) I don’t have a big extended family, but off the top of my head, that would really harm both my brothers’ families and one brother-in-law’s family. Other relatives and I could cover the increase. Many seniors in America live on a tight fixed income, and many people who made those phone calls were doing so on behalf of the seniors whom they know and love. (Face it, when Grandma and Grandpa can’t make ends meet anymore, we DEFINITELY hear about it, and often step in to assist them financially. When my mother ran out of money, we paid all her expenses except food and medical until she died, including hospice care.)

Based on the financial issues and the last minute 302 page bill addendum ALONE, there were people making those phones calls, again, REGARDLESS of the merits of the science. Lots of ideas sound good, but people managing household budgets need to feel confident that they can both afford the costs AND trust the people behind the legislation. I wouldn’t trust anybody from either party who threw in a 302 page addendum. (Plus I was privy to much of the content of the addendum, and that’s a whole ‘nother discussion.)

That’s about it. I’m sorry the bill didn’t go your way. These pieces of legislation need to be brief and concise, and especially without all kinds of extra topics thrown in, such as housing mandates and charity mandates and ACORN mandates, etc. It’s so much easier to support brief, clear, concise legislation, whether it’s about energy efficiency or roads & bridges. If we fight the status quo hard enough, we can make inroads. I work full-time, for free, fighting for change. Progress is slow, but it’s there.

If members are perfectly happy to cite astroturf calls to justify their votes, would any amount of real calls have made a difference this time?

I’d like for Gore, green groups, progressive orgs, bloggers, Congress critters who get it, to call on Americans to do something different, not to call (other) rep’s offices, not to go to a concert, or turn down or up the thermostat, not to change a light bulb, or sign a petition, or make a pledge or forward an action alert, but, at a given time on a given day (soon!) to grab a bat and a ball, or a glove, and to sing our national anthem and to have a friendly pick-up game or just a fun catch among cubicles for a couple of minutes, to send a symbolic message to Washington and the whole world, that Americans care, Americans know, Americans get it, and that bold action fits with, is part of, the American Spirit and Story. What’s American about sitting on the bench?

That being said, if you want to play a game a la Climate Progress, with the passage of this bill we have a 20% chance of mitigating Climate Catastrophe. We have a 0% chance without it. This is depressing in and of itself, but we’re basically at the point where we need to deny the truth (that the bill is inadequate) in order to message the thing right (which is necessary if it’s going to be passed and strengthened.) I’m not saying message-makers didn’t make mistakes. They did, and they continue to fail to understand that climate scare-tactics are not going to inspire most people. But they inherited a difficult message to pull off.

A decade later, in spite of HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS spent by big polluters and right wing idealogues so far this year alone, we passed a decent bill out of the House and stand at least a 50-50 chance of moving a bill out of the Senate.

We need everyone who cares about this issue to get on board and focus on establishing the framework of a strong carbon cap. This is a critical step if we are to show the world the U.S. means business in Copenhagen later this year. We may not get another chance to get this right. Let’s pull ourselves together and get the Senate to pass a strong bill.

The problem as I see it with environmental legislation, with health care and other important issues is that we start off with the crappy, watered-down compromise of a bill and negotiate from there.