XPost: alt.politics.democrats, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, sac.politics   
   XPost: alt.gossip.celebrities   
   From: felcher.adam.schiff@sacbee.com   
      
   The “Green New Deal” is not green at all. If anything it’s a   
   raw, red deal. It calls for a government takeover of our wage,   
   and of our energy, housing, health care and transportation   
   sectors. It has more in common with Mao’s Cultural Revolution   
   than it does FDR’s New Deal, which lifted millions out of the   
   Great Depression.   
      
   Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez announced this resolution   
   with Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Ed Marky and a bevy of   
   supporting congressmen.   
      
   One wonders if anyone actually read it.   
      
   One section says that in the spirit of democracy that only   
   people from “frontline and vulnerable communities and workers”   
   will “plan, run and administer” all of these massive green deal   
   programs.   
      
   Just as Mao’s Cultural Revolution empowered students over their   
   parents, so this bill sets up identity politics groups as having   
   power over the major sectors of the economy. It even calls for a   
   national “mobilization, “as Mao did.   
      
   Referencing historical discrimination, this bill in effect does   
   away with one person one vote, or democracy as we know it, since   
   in this resolution, redress of the past requires that only these   
   designated groups would have a say in running this plan, whose   
   administration would in effect be the domestic policy of the   
   country.   
      
   Even more puzzling is that six Democratic candidates for   
   president have given support to this effort. Most Americans   
   oppose even a modest increase in the gasoline tax, let alone   
   virtual destruction of the oil, natural gas and coal industries.   
   That’s a $136 billion dollar industry employing about 10 million   
   people. After mandating the “100 percent” end of these   
   industries as part of the mobilization, the resolution calls for   
   a guaranteed job for all Americans and economic security even   
   for those “unwilling” to work.   
      
   It mandates that every building in America will be upgraded.   
   It’s unclear in this legislative framework who would pay for   
   incalculable costs of such a program because no one could ever   
   possibly pay for it. No tax on the rich would ever generate   
   enough to first eliminate our energy industry, including clean   
   natural gas, replace it with technologies that are not yet ready   
   and then provide a guaranteed job for everyone, with full   
   benefits, regardless of employability. Don’t worry, though, “low   
   tech” solutions to remove carbon dioxide will be encouraged.   
      
   The demand for justice on the basis of climate change is upside   
   down. The energy revolution did not cause the oppression of the   
   frontline and vulnerable communities. Quite the opposite, it was   
   at the core of the democratization of technology as Thomas   
   Edison’s invention of the light bulb was not limited to the few   
   but became universal to every household.   
      
   The moderately priced car created by Henry Ford helped create   
   the middle class and later provided the near-universal mobility   
   that enabled people to live in the suburbs and commute to work.   
   While the oil industry was broken up to create greater   
   competition, these energy driven inventions were at the center   
   of transforming American life for everyone.   
      
   Air travel is out under this deal as well, to be replaced by   
   high-speed trains. Yea. Right. Amtrak to California.   
      
   The very premise that America is the carbon fiend that needs to   
   mobilize to this degree on its own is faulty as well. Carbon   
   emissions from America have been declining, down 2.7 percent in   
   2016. Since 2011, carbon emissions from large power plants in   
   the U.S. have declined by nearly 20 percent.   
      
   The two most populous countries on earth -- India and China --   
   both looking to move more and more millions of people to the   
   middle class, are ground zero for the explosion of future carbon   
   emissions. We need to develop affordable energy technologies   
   that could be deployed to bring these developing countries into   
   line.   
      
   This plan is really a nifty piece of marketing to use the   
   environment as a Trojan horse to justify socialism in America.   
   It is not a serious plan to deal with the global issue of   
   climate change in the world. Rather than advance the cause of   
   climate change, this legislation could prove more of an easy   
   target for Republicans to discredit the Democrats, who just won   
   over moderate suburban voters in the last election. While many   
   in polls may support something called the “green deal,” few   
   Americans will support the details of this legislation once   
   examined and explained.   
      
   It’s not the platform of the Democratic Party and it’s up to the   
   leadership of the party to back realistic proposals for a better   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)