In-class blog: Times article

When Dr. Jabob's warns that the "political process" is playing "Russian roulette" with the risks of climate change, he's focusing on the ways that the city's political leadership is either demonstrating cowardice or incompetence in its handling of the future risks to the city. It's not simply that "we" New Yorkers are whistling in the dark, as it were, but that our government leaders either lack the will or the knowledge to make the necessary changes or take the necessary steps. We can see this in his emphasis on "the political process," since it's clearly government officials who must lead the necessary changes or take the necessary steps. This indictment of the city's political leadership may not be complete fair, however, because in reality the city's officials lack the kinds of power needed to address the system. The sheer costs required for the necessary changes would inevitably mean making huge cuts to current programs or raising taxes. Although an argument can be made that the city's 389,000 millionaires or the 70 billionaires could be tapped to pay for the common good, they wouldn't agree, and they certainly wouldn't finance the campaigns of any city official who tried to raise taxes on them. This means that any official interested in making those decisions would have to take on the real centers of power in politics -- the money powers -- and probably lose their next election. In a strange way, politicians are trapped between the voters, who mostly represent the common New Yorker, and the class that pays for their campaigns -- the wealthy. In the end, they must serve the interests of the wealthy to keep their jobs and fund their re-elections. They're not afraid to confront the reality of climate change. They're afraid to lose their donor base.