In politics, great communicators re-define their opponents as wrong-minded ideologues with anti-American values. Ronald Reagan re-defined “liberal” in 1984 and Bill Clinton re-defined “economy” in 1992. In doing so, both men shamed the other party. I think Donald Trump just re-defined “socialist” in the State of the Union address:
“We are alarmed by new calls to adopt socialism in our country. America was founded on liberty and independence – not government coercion, domination and control. We are born free and we will stay free. Tonight we renew our resolve that America will never be a socialist country.”
Of course, the president was responding to the sudden mad-lib infatuation with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), the socialist teeny-bopper. Because the term “socialism” describes a political system in which the state (not free individuals) controls the economy by controlling the means of production, Trump was reminding Democrats to support socialism at their own peril. As if he willed it, the TV cameras zoomed in on AOC for a reaction shot.
And, as if cued by Trump on Thursday, AOC and Senator Edward Markey (D-MA) released their killer Green New Deal (Republicans died laughing and Democrats died of embarrassment). To be blunt, the Green New Deal reads as if some stoned staffer wrote it. Above all, if this document is the Democrat Socialist manifesto, they are politically dead on arrival. I’ll bet the RNC will include the S-word in every ad between now and November 2020.
In fact, because of widespread criticism from Democrats, the document disappeared from AOC’s web site Friday evening. Even worse, her spokespeople were falsely denying its authenticity Saturday – except the press had already screen-grabbed copies (liar). To be clear: because we the people don’t trust un-proven “new” energy sources and won’t support un-affordable “new” new programs, the plan has already been branded 100% un-American.
It is un-American to force ranchers, coal miners and petroleum engineers to find new employment in ten years (they won’t), or expect energy investors to walk away from their portfolios (nope). It is un-American to ground the air-transportation industry and make homeowners retrofit their houses. It is un-American to conflate a “green” economy with government-run healthcare (that is just a big lie).
The Green New Deal is a dystopian nightmare, which mandates the following outcomes (as written by AOC):
- A job with family-sustaining wage with medical leave, vacations and retirement security
- High-quality education, including higher education and trade schools
- Clean air and water and access to nature
- Healthy food
- Economic environment free of monopolies
- Economic security for all who are unable or unwilling to work
Markey and Ocasio-Cortez might mean well, but most Democrats know the Green New Deal is un-constitutional. So what? These are “socialists” – and they can ignore the Supreme Court because Trump nominated Gorsuch and Kavanaugh. I beg to differ: the Supremes will interpret the definition of “family-sustaining” wage and “healthy” food and “access” to nature.
As a practical matter, hard-working taxpayers – of every political stripe – will never support transfer payments to those “unwilling to work” citizens down the street. So what? Markey and Ocasio-Cortez want a floor vote that separates the real progressives from the pretend progressives. The plan has no chance to become law, but it will further divide Democrats.
The big loser in the Green New Deal is the environmental movement, because of the plan’s multi-trillion-dollar price tag. According to the Wall Street Journal, replacing combustible energy by 2030 requires 335,000 onshore wind turbines, 154,000 offshore wind turbines, 75 million residential solar systems, 2.75 million commercial solar systems, and 46,000 utility-scale solar farms. Even Al Gore knows a majority of voters (who pay taxes) will refuse the massive cost – and blame the greenies for trying to create a government monopoly controlled by crazy people.
As a political matter, Markey and Ocasio-Cortez have branded socialism as the mental-midget movement, of which reasonable Democrats want no part. And why not? The Green New Deal is too expensive, too disruptive and too intrusive. Seasoned politicians, such as Pelosi and Schumer, remember the political fall-out from Obamacare, which cost peanuts compared to this socialist whopper, and they are running away from the S-word like their hair’s on fire. Meanwhile, Republicans are laughing and buying shares of Exxon.