The proposed Green New Deal leaves editors at the New York Post unimpressed.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi got it about right this week when she off-handedly spoke of the “green dream” to refer to the hopelessly overhyped Green New Deal.
The non-binding resolution from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Ed Markey isn’t a plan but a fantasy — a wish list not just for environmentalists, but for every faction of the modern left.
Far too many on the right rush to call AOC dumb or ignorant, but this bill actually shows that she (like Markey and their allies) is fundamentally dishonest.
Why? Because it’s not remotely focused on their stated belief that the nation and world must act fast to minimize climate change. If you really saw an impending climate catastrophe, you’d prioritize ending carbon emissions above all else — not tack on, most notably, a goal of also shuttering every (carbon-free) nuclear plant.
Let alone all the other items on the list, such as providing guaranteed incomes for all, even those who just don’t want to work.
Not to mention “stopping current, preventing future, and repairing historic oppression of” (get ready!) “indigenous communities, communities of color, migrant communities, deindustrialized communities, depopulated rural communities, the poor, low-income workers, the elderly, the unhoused, people with disabilities, and youth.”
Oh, the Green New Deal will end the “gender earnings gap,” too.
Set next to that, its lesser goals — building high-speed rail all across the country to make air travel “unnecessary” — almost seem practical and down-to-earth.