Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) have unveiled their Green New Deal resolution — a call to arms on climate and jobs that’s long on ambition, but lacking in details and a political path to becoming policy.
This marks the next phase for a movement that has risen quickly to play an outsized role in the climate policy conversation and influence the Democratic 2020 White House contest.
The non-binding resolution envisions a massively expanded federal role in emissions-cutting and economic intervention that takes its cues from World War II and New Deal-era programs:Details: Some of the resolution’s top-line goals include…
- Achieving net-zero U.S. greenhouse gas emissions through a “fair and just transition for all communities and workers” while creating millions of jobs.
- Decarbonizing all the major segments of the economy — power, manufacturing, buildings, transportation and more.
- Protections for indigenous people, communities of color, the poor and others under the heading of “frontline and vulnerable communities.
The many broad concepts in the resolution include “meeting 100 percent of the power demand in the United States through clean, renewable, and zero-emission energy sources.” That phrasing seems to leave the door open to technologies that some activists oppose (such as fossil fuels with carbon capture and nuclear energy), but doesn’t name-check any of them.
It also calls for energy efficiency in “all existing buildings” and new buildings, too, as well as cutting emissions from transportation as much as technologically possible.
Note: That means retrofitting 39,179 buildings/housing units every day for 10 years straight. 137,403,460 housing units in U.S – Census Bureau (2017) 5.6 million commercial buildings in the U.S. (87 billion sq of floorspace) -Dept of Energy’s EIA (2012)
There’s no specific projected cost for what would be massive federal investments under the resolution.
The plan is silent on whether it would impose a carbon tax.
Paul Plante says
Democratic Socialist “Sandy the Bartender” (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) was interviewed on Thursday, February 7, 2019 by NPR Morning Edition co-host Steve Inskeep, where she unveiled her Green New Deal resolution, which is nothing more than a stalking horse for the introduction of state socialism in this country, and this is what she had to say about a carbon tax at that time:
“Even the solutions that we have considered big and bold are nowhere near the scale of the actual problem that climate change presents to us to our country, to the world.”
“And so while carbon taxes are nice while things like cap and trade are nice, it’s not what’s going to save the planet.”
“It could be part of a larger solution but no one has actually scoped out what that larger solution would entail.”
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Hot air and hobble gobble – no one has actually scoped out what the larger solution would entail, so maybe carbon taxes might be a part of it, but since nobody really knows anything, maybe they won’t.
As to her plan, this is what she had to say:
“We’re talking about mobilizing an economy which means creating jobs…we’re gonna have a lot of wind energy.”
“We’re going to have a lot of solar panels.”
“And I think the goal is to really mobilize as much around renewables as possible.”
“This is really about providing justice for communities and just transitions for communities.”
“So really the heart of the Green New Deal is about social justice and it’s about allowing and fighting for things like fully-funded pensions for coal miners in West Virginia, fighting for clean water in Flint, and fighting for the ability of indigenous peoples to take a leadership role in in where we’re moving as a country.”
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It’s about social justice, people.
So what is social justice, besides what “Sandy the Bartender” and the Democratic Socialists say it is?
One definition has it thusly: Social justice principles refer to values “that favours measures that aim at decreasing or eliminating inequity; promoting inclusiveness of diversity; and establishing environments that are supportive of all people.”
How is that all to be done?
By governmental force, of course, because there is no other way to do it.
And what on earth does “promoting inclusiveness of diversity” mean in real life, where “inclusiveness” means the “practice or policy of including people who might otherwise be excluded or marginalized, such as those who have physical or mental disabilities and members of minority groups,” and “diversity” means the “state of being diverse; variety?”
How is that going to be made to happen?
Again, by governmental coercion.
So there is a capsule summary of the green new deal from its own author, “Sandy the Bartender” from Queens, New York, who incidentally happens to be the best modern dancer in the United States Congress, hand’s down – she is even better than Nancy Pelosi, and that is really saying something!
Tom Parks says
I am so sick of this witch I could vomit.
Paul Plante says
With respect to the statement in the OP that Rep. Alexandria (“Sandy the Bartender”) Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) have unveiled their Green New Deal resolution, it appears from an article in The Hill entitled “Ocasio-Cortez forced to clarify Green New Deal details after rollout” by Tal Axelrod on 9 February 2019 that there are more than one version of the resolution floating around, including one that is supposed to be bogus, to wit:
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and her aides are rushing to clarify details of her recently-proposed Green New Deal (GND) after an FAQ sheet it released sparked an uproar.
Ocasio-Cortez’s office sent a copy of the resolution this week as well as an embargoed FAQ sheet about the initiative to various media outlets, including The Hill.
NPR published the FAQ sheet, which included provisions about eliminating air travel, guesswork surrounding cows’ flatulence and economic security for those who are “unable or unwilling to work.”
The document swiftly drew the ire of conservatives who said some of the policies in the FAQ document showed the GND was not a serious proposal.
“There are multiple doctored GND resolutions and FAQs floating around.”
“There was also a draft version that got uploaded + taken down.”
“There’s also draft versions floating out there,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted Saturday, attaching the proposal she introduced in the House.
“When I talk about the GND, this is what I’m referring to – nothing else,” she added in another tweet, again linking to the actual legislation.
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Which statement makes things as clear as mud as to what is the real resolution, which in turn gives “Sandy the Bartender” a good political out because no one can pin her down as to what she is actually saying, which takes us back to The Hill article, as follows:
The confusion first ballooned Friday evening when Robert Hockett, a Cornell law professor advising Ocasio-Cortez on the Green New Deal, went on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show.
When Carlson questioned some of the claims in the FAQ sheet put out by Ocasio-Cortez’s office, Hockett said the document he was citing was “erroneous” and “doctored.”
“So as best I can tell it appears that Tucker and I were referring to separate documents last night, as apparently there were many!”
“The one that I know I and the Congresswoman were aware of was a hoax, about which the Congresswoman had tweeted.”
“The one Tucker was referring to was apparently something else,” Hockett said in a statement to The Hill.
“Since most of us who are involved in this wonderful new Green New Deal initiative were all over the news media yesterday excitedly discussing the big rollout of the day before, it was pretty much impossible for all of us to know about all of the same documents at the same time, so we did the best we could to address the ones we knew about when we could,” he added.
“I’m very much hoping, in any event, that we might all turn to discussing the actual content of the actual Resolution onto which so many in Congress have signed very soon.”
Ocasio-Cortez’s office said that while doctored FAQ documents are circulating on the Internet, the one it released was an unfinished draft that it had not intended to publish.
“There separately IS a doctored FAQ floating around.”
“And an early draft of a FAQ that was clearly unfinished and that doesn’t represent the GND resolution got published to the website by mistake (idea was to wait for launch, monitor q’s, and rewrite that FAQ before publishing),” Ocasio-Cortez’s Chief of Staff Saikat Chakrabati said.
“Mistakes happen when doing time launches like this coordinating multiple groups and collaborators.”
“It’s hard to have both a transparent and open process with many stakeholders while keeping all info locked down.”
“But what’s in the resolution is the GND.”
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So sounds like a real ****-up to me.
In the meantime, I have a copy of the resolution from her website, so that is what I am going by, and talk about pie in the sky, this is it, big-time!
Paul Plante says
And since I made that post, VOX.com has come out with a further article on the “bait-and-switch” aspects of this GREEN NEW DEAL entitled “Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s rocky rollout of the Green New Deal, explained – A fact sheet from AOC’s office about the Green New Deal was wrong. It also highlighted the underlying tensions in the Democratic Party.” by Tara Golshan and Ella Nilsen on Feb 11, 2019, where we learned further as follows:
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) barely got to take a victory lap on her Green New Deal resolution last week before a fight broke out over an accompanying set of talking points.
The conflict was rooted in what looks like a mistake on the part of Ocasio-Cortez’s office, which released a fact sheet inconsistent with the actual legislative text of the Green New Deal resolution.
In areas where the Green New Deal was purposefully vague to attract a broader base of Democratic support — such as renewable energy sources — Ocasio-Cortez’s fact sheet offered more specific and prescriptive priorities.
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Ah, yes, people, the old political game of “bait-and-switch” is being played here right before our eyes by Democratic Socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez – tell the suckers (Nearly every major Democratic Presidential contender say they back the Green New deal including: Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, Kamala Harris, Jeff Merkeley, Julian Castro, Kirsten Gillibrand, Bernie Sanders, Tulsi Gabbard, and Jay Inslee) one thing to get them on-board, when what you are really planning to do is something quite different!
This “Sandy the Bartender” is as cunning and crafty as they come, in that regard, except here, she loos to have gotten herself got with her pant’s down, as that saying goes, which takes us back to the VOX article, as follows:
The confusion opened up the Green New Deal to attacks from prominent conservative lawmakers and pundits like Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham, and others, who used the talking points as fodder to call the proposal idiotic and impractical.
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I have read through the document several times now myself, and to a rational person, yes, the talking points are both idiotic and impractical, but this is not a program that is being sold to rational people.
To the contrary, “Sandy the Bartender” is setting herself up here as an American Caudillo, which takes us back to the VOX article, as follows:
It also left both Ocasio-Cortez’s advisers and supporting Democrats flatfooted on live television, forcing them to answer for text they either didn’t know existed or couldn’t support.
Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA), one of the co-sponsors of the Green New Deal, told reporters, “Um … I’m familiar with the fact sheet.”
“But again, it’s separate from the resolution, all right?”
“The resolution is really what the document is that I was speaking to today, as was Sen. Wyden and Sen. Merkley and all of the House members that were here.”
“That’s the key document.”
“That’s what you should focus on.”
“Focus on the resolution.”
His comments were an indication that some of the more moderate Democrats who have signed on to the Green New Deal may have been caught off guard by the language in Ocasio-Cortez’s talking points.
Ocasio-Cortez’s office tried to smooth over the controversy by claiming the fact sheet was both an unfinished and old draft.
They also raised concerns about “doctored” documents about the Green New Deal being circulated by Republicans.
Rather than slowing attacks, these claims have only fed the conservative outrage.
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So, yes, there is a whole lot of horse**** going on here, but, hey, it’s America, so what else did we expect?