What Does Accountability Mean in the Context of Climate Change?

In August 2022, Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act. All the Democrats voted for it, and of Republicans, 4 abstained and the rest voted against it. Some are saying that the vote on climate change was partisan. But it’s not true.

First, the bill was about much more than climate change. It was an “omnibus bill.”  It included much of the text of 12 other bills. So there’s no real way of knowing which parts each member of Congress liked or disliked. Omnibus bills give both sides reasons to defend or oppose the bill without letting voters know where politicians stand on separate issues.

The whole idea of an omnibus bill is wrong. If this were a well-functioning democracy, it would be split it into many bills so The People could decide which parts we like. Then our representatives could represent us instead of the parties, and we’d see that climate change is not a partisan issue.

An April 2022 Gallup article says of 6 climate change proposals, 3 were favored by about 60% of Americans, including about 40% of Republicans. 3 were favored by about 3/4 of Americans, including about 60% of Republicans. In its conclusion, it said that 43% of Americans worry "a great deal" about climate change, and another 22% worry "a fair amount" about it. That’s 65%, almost ⅔. Climate change is a bipartisan issue.

An April 2021 Pew article said 40% of Americans thought climate change was a big problem, 25% thought it was a moderately big problem, and 22% thought it was a small problem. So 87% thought it was a problem. It also said 61% of Democrats and 14% of Republicans thought climate change was a major problem. Climate change is a bipartisan issue.

A July 2022 Pew article says of 5 specific programs to address climate change, almost 50% of Republicans support 3 of them, and about 3/4 support the other two. The article also said 28% of Republicans think the government isn’t doing enough on climate change. And “About two-thirds (64%) of Republicans ages 18 to 29 favor requiring power companies to use more energy from renewable sources.” Climate change is not a partisan issue.

Just as bills are lumped together into omnibus bills, voters are lumped together into one of the two parties. And then the parties rule the country, not the people. The parties fight for power. That power attracts money and corruption. Then the parties have the money to send out consistent propaganda to influence voters, dividing America and protecting the interests of those who supplied the money.

We have been forced to have political parties. PeopleCount proposes changing that by letting voters vote on issues and hold their representatives accountable. Instead of having the two parties split issues, each voter can take a position on each issue. Instead of adopting extreme party positions for their party’s voters, politicians will be able to offer moderate positions for all voters.