After much vigorous debate, it was decided to include refugee policy in the bill. Though refugees have endured a violent othering in a climate-destabilized world, we should look at refugees not as a problem but a solution: This is demographic salvation for the developed world, whose aging populations are becoming an increasing strain. The Refugee and Immigration Authority (RIA) will deliver displaced peoples across the country, find them decent work, provide English lessons, educate their children in public schools, and quickly integrate them into the American social order. We will raise the limits of refugees and asylum seekers to roughly 2.5 million a year. This, I hope, will be the beginning of the difficult project of getting the world’s people to renounce the sanctity of their many identities. Distinctions of race, ethnicity, religion, and national boundary have long been antiquated. In a world of transnational threat, they’ve become exceedingly dangerous, and we must devise additional policy with the intent of mollifying these ancient and pointless hatreds.
Ultimately, the legislation aims to remake American society with a just and inclusive vision. Born from crisis, it will create a sprawling new national park to bind us in restoration of the natural world, a redistribution of prosperity to empower those who’ve long been embattled, exploited, and ignored, and a wave of new immigrants arriving to lay their burdens down and become the next stewards of our country’s vital promise.
Only in the final days did Ms. Li Song, who’d remained largely silent throughout our debates, make her price clear: “Immunity for my members. Plus a sizable financial package to help the industries transition.”
As expected, Tony, Hani, and Jane exploded at this:
“Are you out of your fucking mind?”
“That is breathtaking.”
“Out of the question. Absolutely not.”
Essentially the fossil-fuel majors wanted substantial government assistance, reassurances, low-cost loans, and a raft of other financial incentives to transition from their core businesses of burning carbon and dumping the waste CO2 and CH4 into the atmosphere. I thought myself, Ms. McCowen, Admiral Dahms, and Secretary Rathbone could convince the others that this was actually in our best interest. After all, what we did not want was further financial panic sparked by the sudden collapse of major energy players, an economic shock from the mass devaluation of the fossil-fuel industry with nothing but the stranded assets of unburnable reserves on their books. These companies were well positioned to transition to the brand-new trillion-dollar industry we were about to create in carbon remediation. They spent generations putting pollution into the atmosphere, and now they’d simply make their business pulling it back out. The tricky part was the security they wanted from legal liability.
Ms. Li Song continued: “Our members have been active participants in a responsible transitioning to a clean economy.”
Tony’s face was purple, and he looked like he might self-combust: “That’s a fucking hoot!”
Haniya, a bit more calmly, explained: “I’m sorry, but what you’re asking for is unconscionable. Their scientists knew what the effects of greenhouse pollution would be as far back as the 1970s. What happened here is a crime, and that very well may require serious restitution.”
Jane added: “She’s right. I won’t put my name on anything that includes immunity. I’m sorry.”
When Tony spoke, the spittle flew: “You’re one sick fucking bitch, Song! Carrying water for the worst people to ever walk the earth. Our civilization is on the precipice of annihilation, and you want to hold us hostage? You’re having fun, huh? Sitting there patiently this whole time waiting to fuck us.”
The onslaught continued, and I admired Emii Li Song’s poise. She sat sedately, dressed in black slacks and a black turtleneck. She looked almost like a woman at mosque in a black chador—everything but the headpiece. She kept her hands clasped in front of her and waited for her turn to speak.
“If civilization is on the precipice as you claim, then you should be willing to negotiate the point. I’ll also remind you, that without indemnification, it’s unlikely any legislation will pass Congress.
The room was silent for a moment. Finally, Tony stood. “Fuck this. I’d rather let the world burn.”
Jane also pushed up out of her seat and looked to Rathbone and McCowen.
“She goes or we go.”
Haniya took a bit longer, collecting her notepad, pen, and purse. Without saying anything, she smoothed her skirt and walked out as well.
Secretary Rathbone rubbed his temples. “Un-fucking-believable.”
Ms. Li Song looked remarkably unperturbed. “We knew this part would be difficult.”
A day of negotiating did not go well.
Secretary Rathbone explained: “The central paradox of any crisis is that what feels unfair and unjust is often exactly what you need to stem the crisis. Old Testament justice feels good but it doesn’t solve anything.”
Jane looked horrified by this. “Marty, you’re asking that no one ever be held responsible.”
Tony: “You can’t believe a goddamn word out of that woman’s mouth. If you leave those companies alive, then you leave them to fight another day. We should wipe them out now.”
Secretary Rathbone said what had gone unspoken through the whole process. “Tony, none of us are voting on anything here. We don’t need you to agree.”
“Oh, you don’t think if I go out there and nuke this thing in the media it has any chance of passing?”
This could have proved an unbrookable divide. This is when I called Congresswoman Aamanzaihou, whom I’d kept abreast of the negotiations. She sounded as though she’d known this impasse was coming. With her status as the leading light of the climate-hawk Left, she had a compromise. When we reconvened, I patched her in by AR hologram from her Rayburn office. She wore a pink T-shirt, which had an image of Bernie Sanders angling his glasses to the sun in order to fry Monopoly’s Rich Uncle Pennybags.
She cautioned: “None of us have even stopped to ask, Can this plan survive? We assume the bulk of the American people will stand by it simply because it will arrest the crisis and contains material benefits, but let’s face it, our democracy hasn’t been one for quite a while. As evidenced by this very working group and the enormous influence of one of its members.” Ms. Li Song remained smiling pleasantly. The congresswoman continued: “We need a mechanism to put this to the people, to put it to a vote, while also ensuring that the most important provisions endure. That requires a radical expansion of our democracy.”
The congresswoman’s demands, in return for Li Song’s, were:
Passage of the long-touted chimerical legislation known as the For the People Act, a laundry list of reforms including expanded ballot access, automatic registration, elimination of voting restrictions and overt gerrymandering practices, and tighter controls on political money. It was first proposed by Democrats during the Biden administration following largely successful Republican efforts to rig the voting process in their favor.
A dramatic expansion and modernization of union laws, including a repeal of the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947, a requirement for codetermination on corporate boards so that workers are half of those represented, and an expansion of favorable laws governing worker cooperatives.