The fallacies and evasions of the Green New Deal
By
Bryan Dyne and Barry Grey
5 March 2019
Last month, New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, and Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey, both Democrats, introduced a non-binding resolution in both houses of Congress calling for a “Green New Deal” to transition American energy production to non-carbon-based sources within 10 years. It is currently co-sponsored by 89 out of 235 Democrats in the House of Representatives and 11 out 47 in the Senate.
Alongside calls for the federal government to take action to halt and reverse climate change and other ongoing ecological threats, the document proposes a federal mobilization comparable to the New Deal of the 1930s, which “created the greatest middle class the United States has ever seen.” It sees the present situation as an “historic opportunity” to secure for all people in the country the following: “clean air and water,” “healthy food,” a “sustainable environment,” “high-quality health care,” “affordable, safe and adequate housing,” “economic security,” and “a job with a family sustaining wage, adequate family and medical leave, paid vacations and retirement security.”
The attempt to even raise such social and economic issues has provoked a backlash from politicians within both big business parties. Virtually the entire Republican Party has denounced it and Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has scheduled a vote in the Senate to force Democrats to publicly align with or dissociate themselves from the bill. The leader of the Democrats in Congress, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, has derisively referred to the resolution as a “green dream.” Senate Minority Leader…