My public media colleague Sam Gringlas reported on NPR today from Georgia—a Republican-led state whose leaders want to attract green energy projects.
The story notes the irony: with some exceptions, Democrats have led climate efforts, while Republicans have blocked and even mocked them.
But green industries hire people, and Georgia’s Republican Gov. Brian Kemp declared his intent to make his state “the electric mobility capital of America.”
Kemp unveiled an electric charger at a state park, and plugged in a Rivian electric vehicle of a kind that is soon to be made in Georgia. The state “is edging out Michigan as a top draw for new investments from auto manufacturers and suppliers,” Gringlas says.
The lines that really caught my attention were about what Gov. Kemp does not discuss much: climate change.
Kemp doesn’t warn about the dangers of rising oceans or superstorms. He simply asserts that if the public wants to buy electric vehicles, Georgia should be the state to profit from selling them.
Tim Echols, vice chair of Georgia’s utility commission, says he tells people in the green energy sector, “I hope you guys learn to speak Republican.” In other words, “it’s important, when you’re dealing with Republicans, to lead with economic development, saving money, as opposed to something like climate change.”
This can be seen as cynical—but it’s more accurate to see it as coalition building. Federal action on climate generally requires some support from Republicans. State action in many places depends entirely on Republicans. Climate activists are not going to change many people’s ideology, but can engage their interests.
Gov. Kemp faced some blowback for supporting the Rivian plant. A rival for his job attacked him over it during last year’s Republican primary. But Republican voters backed Kemp.
In recent months it has emerged that far-right Republicans like Georgia’s Marjorie Taylor-Greene feel they have a stake in federal energy subsidies. She’s now “cheering” the subsidies, even though she voted against them in 2022.
In recent weeks, House Republicans agreed to a debt ceiling and budget agreement that left climate subsidies untouched. House leaders dropped their effort to eliminate them.
This kind of coalition building is a major theme of Differ We Must. My forthcoming Lincoln biography (which you can preorder here) tells his life story through his meetings with people who disagreed with him, or came from a differing point of view. He rarely changed their fundamental beliefs. But he tried to get something out of them.
He also attempted a delicate act: dealing with, allying with, and even befriending people whose ideas he considered obnoxious. The delicate part was doing this while not losing his soul.
Today, some people consider such efforts foolish or even immoral. Some also considered Lincoln foolish then. But as long as we have a republic, leaders need to assemble a political majority from among the people as they are. Lincoln’s example has never been more relevant.