Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell pulled a fun little prank on the Democrats yesterday, by scheduling a vote on their Green New Deal. Take a moment and read or skim the text. It’s not that long. I’ll call attention to three bits.

First, the opening bullet point:

human activity is the dominant cause of observed climate change over the past century

I’ve noted on this blog that I am a lukewarmist, that I believe human carbon emissions are having some effect on the Earth’s climate, but that the evidence supports the conclusion that the effect is not the catastrophic one forecast by the climate change true-believers. That’s of secondary relevance to the crux of that bullet point: we do not know what fraction of the observed climate change over the past century is due to human activity. The famous 97% consensus is a consensus that matches my stated belief: that human activity is a contributor. That’s as far as it goes, and the numbers collapse when the question is posited as “dominant” or “sole contributor.”

So, right off the bat, the basis of the GND is challengeable.

Read on, and you’ll find a whole lot of lofty sounding goals about the climate… until you get to this part:

to promote justice and equity by stopping current, preventing future, and repairing historic oppression of indigenous communities, communities of color, migrant communities, deindustrialized communities, depopulated rural communities, the poor, low-income workers, women, the elderly, the unhoused, people with disabilities, and youth

What does social justice have to do with addressing the purported threat from anthropogenic global warming? If AGW is an existential issue, why dilute our actions or muddy the matter by enfolding a social justice agenda?

Therein lies the dirty secret of the GND: It’s not really about global warming.

Now, to the final bit, the part that tells us everything:

providing all people of the United States with—
(i) high-quality health care;
(ii) affordable, safe, and adequate housing;
(iii) economic security; and
(iv) access to clean water, clean air, healthy and affordable food, and nature.

Focus on one word: “providing.”

Not “promoting,” not “encouraging,” not even “supporting.” “Providing.”

This grants the government unfettered power to socialize medicine, to socialize housing, to give out money, up to and including universal basic income, and to take control of every industry in the nation. In short, it’s a plan for government takeover of the entire economy. Now, that can be via government ownership (see: socialism), or massive regulation of that which is privately owned (see: fascism). Either way, it’s a collectivist political philosophy.

Collectivism in its various forms not only killed more than a hundred million people last century, it kept billions in poverty and oppression. As a political philosophy, it has failed repeatedly and spectacularly. It should be dead and buried.

Sadly, every year, we have a fresh batch of naifs entering the voting ranks, and they haven’t been taught jack shit about the disasters of socialism. Thus, in their earnest eagerness to matter, to make a difference, they fall prey to the empty and murderous promises of socialism’s re-branders and spin-masters, who have either blindered themselves to history, embrace the astounding arrogance that they are the ones to get it right, or have hidden agendas of a baser and more selfish sort.

And, thus, we witness a big chunk of the nation falling for this “watermelon” politics: green on the outside, red on the inside. Lofty and aspirational goals, wrapped up in a combination of “Save the Planet” and “Defend the Oppressed” pomposity, are a front for a reiteration of a destructive and murderous ideology whose primary purpose is to put the enormous power of an unlimited government in the hands of its advocates.

Don’t believe me? Take a peek at how the GND’s head cheerleader, freshman Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, has reacted to her colleagues’ criticisms on. In one moment, she proffers an angry for the children retort. In another, she throws shade at second term Senator Mike Lee, who playfully mocked the GND with a prop-filled speech that referenced Aquaman, giant seahorses, and Star Wars taun-tauns. Her authoritarian impulses have become apparent after only a few weeks in office.

Make no mistake, the agenda at play here is not about saving the planet (something the GND wouldn’t do in any event). It’s about seizing power, and holding onto it by using government force to subordinate the skeptical and reward the compliant and supportive. It’s a violation of everything that America is about, and the fact that almost all the declared Democratic presidential candidates have voiced their support for it should scare the bejeezus out of us.

• About the Author

About Peter Venetoklis

I am twice-retired, a former rocket engineer and a former small business owner. At the very least, it makes for interesting party conversation. I'm also a life-long libertarian, I engage in an expanse of entertainments, and I squabble for sport.

Nowadays, I spend a good bit of my time arguing politics and editing this website.

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