‘Green Deal’ is warmed- over socialist programs
Much was written last week concerning New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her “Green New Deal,” announced with a flourish, and followed up by a fact sheet that read something like a middle school term paper – with apologies to middle schoolers. AOC, as the press has dubbed her, came out with the proposal barely hours after the highly successful State of the Union message by President Donald J. Trump.
The two events are remarkable because in the SOTU, the President stunned and delighted many with his declaration that “The United States will never be a socialist country.” In AOC’s declaration later in the week, socialism was writ large all over the document.
Laying aside for a minute the dubious science (the discredited “hockey stick,” the fact radiant heat in cities skews measurements, the current cooling stage the sun is experiencing, etc.) that has dictated the Global Warming issue for more than three decades, the document put forth by the congressman laid bare exactly what opponents have been saying for almost as long as the issue has been discussed: it is a pathway to government takeover of wealth and redistribution. In other words, it is a pathway to socialism and the Progressive nirvana its proponents so desire.
The fact sheet sent out by AOC’s office, a fact sheet that talked of bovine flatulence, and the elimination of air travel, made such a stir that some of her supporters and consultors attempted to say it was a non-edited documents or a work document that was errantly published. Does anyone really believe that? The documents were up for many hours and only taken down after the ridicule got so bad, AOC’s credibility as a serious legislator (such as it is) took a hit.
But within the document is a patchwork quilt of Progressive hobby horses: guaranteed incomes for even those who don’t wish to work; federally guaranteed jobs for those who wish to work; high-speed rail projects to eliminate air travel; elimination of nuclear power plants – even though they are the cleanest of power producers; high quality food, electric cars for all with elimination of the internal combustion engine with powering stations “everywhere;” and other such redistributionist wishes. Of course, all jobs will be unionized and the government will take over healthcare and industries while mandating that every building be demolished or retrofitted for renewable energy. The goal is a ten-year window to make this happen, though those flatulent cows might take a bit longer to eradicate.
The fact the technologies necessary for much of what the nation will need hasn’t been invented yet does not stop the excitement, nor does the follow up as to where all this power for electric car stations is to be produced. We are told that given the political will to do this, the spirit of America will take over just as it did for the moon landing, or winning World War II.
Even one of our own senators, the Progressive Chris Murphy, has endorsed the idea as one of political will. He, too, cites the moon landing. What does this mean for cities like West Haven? If such a program were undertaken, the city’s middle class, already burdened with taxes, would be decimated. The underclasses would be driven to even more poverty. In those nations where programs like this were attempted, Socialist Spain for example, statistics show 2.2 jobs were lost for every one “green job” created.
But this isn’t about the “green economy.” This is about redistribution of wealth, the control of capital by the government and the subjugation of the citizenry under socialism. The President was right to make the contrast and declare our opposition. People like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are products of an education system that refuses to see the devastation of the last century under Socialism’s two manifestations: fascism and communism, nor the millions who died under its double yoke.
They see the promise of socialism, without acknowledging its failures. They shouldn’t be given a chance to fail here.