The term “insane” understates how bad the ideas presented in this
resolution really are. Both the Green New Deal resolution and the FAQ
document released with it read like something concocted in a drunken
haze in a college dorm room. Although it’s certainly imaginative, it’s
not remotely close to serious public policy. Perhaps that explains why
Rep. Ocasio-Cortez removed the documents from her congressional website.
Although the resolution isn’t a serious public policy proposal, conservatives and libertarians do need
to take it seriously. Why? Because this is how far to the left the
Democratic Party has drifted. Although some wave the banner of
“democratic socialism,” others who share socialist ideals avoid the
label that Rep. Ocasio-Cortez claims by identifying as “progressives”
who support green policies. When one peels back the initial layer of
green, the same tired and failed ideas of socialism are there.
The resolution begins with basic findings. Rep. Ocasio-Cortez and
Sen. Markey take the most recent report from the United Nations’
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as though it was handed
down from God to Moses on Mount Sinai on stone tablets. Although humans
do contribute to climate change, many of the IPCC’s previous claims
have been proven wrong. Remember, it was just 2007 when the IPCC warned
that the world had only eight years to avoid the worst effects of
climate change. The most recent report, released in October 2018, claims
that we have 12 years to avoid the worst of climate change. When proven
inaccurate, just move the goalposts.
Rep. Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Markey complain that the United States is
“responsible for a disproportionate amount of greenhouse gas emissions,
having emitted 20 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions through
2014.” Well, during periods of increased prosperity, emissions have been
higher. Emissions have declined during periods of slow growth and
recessions. As recently as 2017, the United States saw a decline in
greenhouse gas emissions.
Eventually, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Markey offer a long list of
things Congress should do in a so-called “Green New Deal.” The
resolution is chock full of policy recommendations that radical
environmentalists have long demanded. Rep. Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Markey
want the United States to “achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions”
by eliminating fossil fuels. The Green New Deal FAQs document also
states that the United States should also eliminate nuclear energy,
although the resolution itself doesn’t include such language.
The goal of this aspect of the Green New Deal is to transition the
economy to renewable energy. If that sounds too good to be true, that’s
because it is. Under the Paris Agreement, from which the United States
withdrew, Americans were expected to see $2.5 trillion in lost gross
domestic product (GDP), the loss of some 400,000 jobs, and an increase
in energy costs between 13 and 20 percent. On top of that, the U.S. has
led the world in carbon emissions reduction since withdrawing from the
agreement. The difference between the Paris Agreement and the Green New
Deal is that the Paris Agreement, by comparison, wouldn’t have been
nearly as economically destructive.
Americans have a love affair with their vehicles. But under the Green
New Deal, that car you’re so proud of would be banned. Since the
economy will transition away from fossil fuels, your gas-powered vehicle
must be given up for an electric vehicle. Forget about the trade-in
value; it’s not like the dealership can resell your old car.
Rep. Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Markey would have Congress invest heavily
in high-speed rail. Again, that may sound great, but high-speed rail
has proven to be nothing short of a boondoggle in the United States.
Take California’s high-speed rail system. This project is years behind
schedule and far more expensive than originally projecting, now
estimated to cost $100 billion. Although the Green New Deal promises to
ensure that the power of eminent domain doesn’t abuse, Rep.
Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Markey fail to explain how they expect to protect
private property while also building costly high-speed rail lines
across the country, which would require land acquisition through eminent
domain on a massive scale.
International travel would, presumably, become impossible. Those
occasional steak dinners you enjoy might be a thing of the past, too.
Although the resolution doesn’t explicitly say this, the Green New Deal
FAQs document, no joke, states that the sponsors of the resolution
“aren’t sure that we’ll be able to fully get rid of farting cows and
airplanes that fast.” Cows, by the way, emit methane primarily through
belching, not flatulence. Livestock represents nearly 3 percent of
greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, according to the
Environmental Protection Agency.
Another wild idea from the resolution is the goal of “upgrading all
existing buildings in the United States and building new buildings.” The
FAQs for the resolution are more straightforward. That document states
that the goal is to “[u]pgrade or replace every building in U.S. for
state-of-the-art energy efficiency.” There are, uh, a lot of buildings
in the United States. The resolution doesn’t specific which buildings
would need to be upgraded or rebuilt. According to the U.S. Energy
Information Administration, “there were 5.6 million commercial buildings
in the United States in 2012, comprising 87 billion square feet of
floorspace.” The cost of this would be immense.
The Green New Deal resolution also includes other leftist policy
priorities, such as guarantees of “high-quality health care,” “safe,
affordable, and adequate housing,” and “economic security.” The
resolution doesn’t explicitly state this, but the FAQs document defines
“economic security” as those who are “unwilling to work.” This is
socialism. If you’re completely able-bodied, but you’re too lazy to
work, the producers in the economy — well, the few who are left under
the Green New Deal — will pick up your tab. That’s not okay.
Finally, there’s the cost of this incoherent, ridiculous monstrosity.
The Green New Deal resolution calls for heavy “investments” by the
government, claiming that “World War II and the New Deal created the
greatest middle class that the United States has ever seen.” Well, Rep.
Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Markey are very wrong about the New Deal.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Treasury secretary, Henry Morgenthau,
Jr., told the House Ways and Means Committee in May 1939, “We have tried
spending money. We are spending more than we have ever spent before and
it does not work.”
