Al Gore: U.S. must pay attention to "democracy crisis" to solve climate crisis
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Former Vice President Al Gore said that to solve the climate crisis, the U.S. needs to first pay attention to the democracy crisis.
The big picture: Gore, in an interview with "Meet the Press" host Chuck Todd that will air Sunday, said that public sentiment is changing in regards to climate change, but that "democracy is broken," likening the inaction on climate legislation to the inaction on gun control legislation.
- "The same reason that it's seemingly impossible for the Congress to pass legislation banning these weapons of war, these assault rifles that are being used to murder children in classrooms and create hundreds of mass-casualty events already this year, and that's getting worse ... is the same reason that we can't pass climate legislation," Gore said according to a transcript of Sunday's interview.
- The former vice president also called for the filibuster to be eliminated, saying that "we have a minority government. ... We have big money playing much too large a role in our politics."
Of note: Gore also compared climate change deniers to law enforcement officers in Uvalde, Texas, who have been criticized for their response to a school shooting that killed 19 children and two teachers.
- "They heard the screams, they heard the gunshots and nobody stepped forward. And law enforcement officials tell us that's not typical of what law enforcement usually does," Gore said.
- "Confronted with this global emergency, what we're doing with our inaction and failing to walk through the door and stop the killing is not typical of what we are capable of as human beings. We do have the solutions," he added.
- "These extreme events that are getting steadily worse and more severe are really beginning to change minds. We have to have unity as a nation to come together and stop making this a political football. It shouldn't be a partisan issue."
