Paralysis in the face of the greatest calamity the world has ever known is a shocking indictment of U.S. capitalist democracy. The richest country in the world – one that spends about a trillion dollars on defense and security every year — is apparently incapable of adjusting its political and economic order sufficient to head off the end of human civilization. The answer to the climate and wider environmental crisis is not obscure – stop burning fossil fuels. But since the correlate of that solution is establishment of a regulatory capitalism (or democratic socialism) distant from the current neo-liberal order, the captains of industry and their congressional, executive, and judicial branch allies answer NO! The fossil fuel magnates and their friends in the home building, automotive, aerospace, defense, and chemical industries would literally rather be dead – or murder their grandchildren — than strand their assets. Capitalist democracy today is a death cult.

Source: Joe Manchin as Alibi – CounterPunch.org