Bill Moyers highlights Oregon enviro lawsuit in his final broadcast

Kari Chisholm

Friday night, the great Bill Moyers ended his broadcast television career -- after 44 years. In his final broadcast, he cited a lawsuit brought by an 18-year-old Eugene resident, Kelsey Juliana, and a UO law professor, Mary Christine Wood, that uses the doctrine of public trust to assert that the State of Oregon isn't doing enough to combat climate change.

It's an interesting legal theory, and one we should pay attention to. But what struck me were his closing thoughts -- particularly meaningful at the dawn of a new year:

[D]emocracy, too is a public trust – a reciprocal agreement between generations to keep it in good repair and pass it along. Our country’s DNA carries an inherent promise for every citizen of an equal opportunity at life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Our history resonates with the hallowed idea – hallowed by blood – of government of, by, and for the people. Our great progressive struggles have been waged to make sure ordinary citizens, and not just the rich and privileged, share in the benefits of a free society. In the words of Louis Brandeis, one of the greatest of our Supreme Court justices, “We may have democracy, or we may have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both.” ...

So as the next generation steps forward, I am tempted to think that the only thing my generation can say to them is: we’re sorry. Sorry for the mess you’re inheriting. Sorry we broke the trust. But I know in my heart that’s not what they ask or expect. So instead I recommend to them the example of Senator Robert La Follette of Wisconsin, another of my heroes from the past. He battled the excesses of the first Gilded Age a century ago so boldly and proudly that he went down in history as “Fighting Bob.” He told us, “…democracy is a life; and involves continual struggle.” I keep asking myself, what if that struggle is the palpable reality without which this world would be truly barren?

So to this new generation I say: over to you, welcome to the fight.

Watch the whole clip:

There's more over at Raw Story.

By Kari Chisholm Jan. 03, 2015