Dear HCN,
I’m sure
environmentalists are ready to declare the Sagebrush Rebellion over
now that People for the USA is closing its doors (HCN, 12/18/00:
People for the USA! disbands).
Sierra Clubber
Bruce Hamilton couldn’t resist one last distortion, telling
HCN readers that PFUSA went about “buying rural
representatives.” Hamilton also pointed out that “Corporate
interests threw $2 billion into this
election.”
Don’t flatter yourself, Bruce. Very
little of that “corporate” $2 billion was “thrown” at environmental
groups. Al Gore and George Bush threw over $300 million and nearly
as many lawyers at each other over leadership of the free world,
not over environmental issues.
PFUSA’s budget
never went over $850,000 a year, yet we managed to patch together a
nationwide, multi-issue coalition. We could barely afford twine to
keep PFUSA together, much less go about “buying rural
representatives.”
Industry supported PFUSA mainly
when the public relations people and lawyers couldn’t handle the
crisis du jour. Supporting long-term relationships of mutual
support was sadly rare. We darkly joked among ourselves that
businesses looked upon PFUSA as some kind of desktop “grassroots
button”: Push it and howling mobs would magically
materialize.
The only hope PFUSA had was perhaps
our members would do the principled thing for free. When they did,
boy, was it wonderful. More often, though, human nature got in the
way. The coal guys loathed oil people who didn’t care about ag
people who hated motorheads who didn’t like loggers who didn’t like
the constitutionalists who didn’t like anyone. About the only thing
they disliked more than one another was, of course, enviros, and
only when convenient.
Watching supposedly
“allied” groups and individuals fix bayonets and charge one another
while the “enemy” laughed their butts off was not wonderful. Still,
at least in part because of the often fickle efforts of PFUSA and
its allies at exposing foolish Green initiatives, Greens found
themselves failing miserably at the grassroots in the West and
rural America … to the point where, about eight years ago,
declining membership and increasing factionalism had Greens
bayoneting each other, too.
The high-mucky-mucks
at the Environmental Grantmakers Association decreed that the
roughly $500 million in grants they dole out to Green groups every
year wouldn’t be wasted buying bayonets. Grants would instead buy
loyalty. Strategically coordinated funds would go only to those who
could, and would, follow orders.
That
half-billion in annual EGA money has converted many Green
“grassroots” activists into elitist front men * a conversion eased
by Bill Clinton’s presence in the White House. Hey, who needs to
build grassroots support for stupid policies when slick lobbying
for an executive order will work?
PFUSA’s
corporate supporters didn’t really believe in the sort of
grassroots politicking PFUSA offered, but as long as Greens
practiced it, PFUSA had a niche. When the Green “moneypersons”
deliberately killed off their grassroots, PFUSA no longer had a job
to do.
Environmental policy, like most other
policy initiatives, has become an expensive private war in
Washington, D.C., between “wealthy corporate fronts” and rich,
elitist foundational fronts – a public relations and spin shoutfest
in which the voice of grassroots citizens (those this is all
supposed to be of, by and for) is not heard. Dave
Skinner
Whitefish, Montana
The writer is a former staffer for People for the USA.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Greens failed grassroots miserably.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
