No compartmentalization, especially when lobbies are involved

If we want clean energy to succeed in the upcoming Biden administration, we have to (a) be realistic, and (b) fight like hell to keep him focused on it as much as possible. Political capital is scarce, and the threats to our future from climate change are real, so allowing the various Democratic lobbies to suck all of the oxygen out of the room is not an option. Here’s a quick rundown of the problem and some ideas on what we can do to help clean energy win. It’s All About Political Capital In short, political capital is a way to think about political power in democratic countries. Yes, winning elections does give some political power, but you can’t effectively use it unless you have coalitions, alliances, trust, goodwill, and influence. Your earned trust and connections are like money (capital). You can work hard to earn it and build it up, but it’s easy to spend it and even waste it, just like money. If you get power from an election and then quickly spend all of the political capital impressing loyalists, you’ll get to the point where you can’t win future elections (Trump is a great example of this), can’t get votes together for legislation, and can’t get people to help you in a variety of other ways. At worst, a political leader who has run completely out of political capital might not even be able to get normal citizens to follow laws. As the consent of the governed is withdrawn, you see protests, riots, violence, terrorism, and even war. For better or worse, Biden won’t start out with much political capital to begin with. After a narrowly won election, not taking the Senate (because many voters rejected Trump but voted for Republicans further down the ballot), and then extended accusations of cheating, it’s not going to be easy to get things done.