Leadership Quote by Tom McMillan

McMillan’s line is a pressure-relief valve aimed at a chronic American problem: everything becomes a team sport, even the air. By declaring the environment “not a partisan issue,” he’s less describing reality than trying to rename the battlefield. The rhetoric is deliberately plain, almost parental, because the goal isn’t to win an argument on carbon pricing; it’s to shame the argument itself as beside the point.

The pivot to “a people issue” is doing quiet but heavy work. It’s a reframing that borrows moral authority from public health and basic security, categories where voters tend to tolerate government action without demanding ideological purity tests. “People issue” also subtly demotes the usual political characters - donors, lobbyists, party leaders - and elevates the audience as the only stakeholder that matters. That’s populist, but in a civic-minded way.

The final clause, “it affects all of us,” is the universalizing move that politicians reach for when they need coalition. It’s also strategic ambiguity: “affects” can mean asthma rates, flood insurance, farm yields, military readiness, or just a spoiled vacation. That breadth invites agreement from different constituencies while postponing the fight over remedies.

Context matters because environmental policy is where consensus collapses into compliance costs. McMillan’s intent is to create rhetorical cover for action by making opposition sound like petty tribalism. The subtext: if you’re treating this as partisan, you’re choosing party identity over your constituents’ lungs and livelihoods.