When it comes to climate change policies, Democrats are doubling down on stupid. Instead of learning from the failures of former President Obama’s clean energy agenda, Democrats are driving over the climate change cliff by supporting the Green New Deal.

The absurdity of the Green New Deal is a tremendous political gift to Republicans. The environmental goals of the plan alone will dramatically reduce the use of fossil fuels in ten years, replace air transportation with high-speed rail, rebuild all U.S. buildings, and somehow address cow carbon emissions by presumably aggressively discouraging dairy and meat consumption. This is the effort of delusional minds completely out of touch with reality and American values.

The Green New Deal is an affront to liberty and a wake-up call for Americans and American businesses to the perils of socialist Democrats who seek to control every aspect of our lives. The good news is that the gains Democrats made with suburban voters and political independents who gave them control of the House of Representatives can be reversed when the consequences of this policy become widely understood.

Labor unions, a key voting bloc for President Trump in Midwest swing states, are expressing deep concerns about the New Green Deal. The United Mine Workers, whose members suffered from Obama’s war on coal, are sensitive to radical environmental policies. A coal union spokesman said in response to the resolution, “Our members are worried about putting food on the table.”

International Union of North America, a construction union, expressed similar concerns, pointing out that workers are doing better working on fossil fuel industry projects than renewable energy.

To end the madness, Republicans must drive a stake through the heart of the Green New Deal by reminding voters of Obama’s clean energy errors and recent examples of transportation failures, as well as problems from the limitations of renewable energy.

To recap, Obama threw about $90 billion of federal stimulus money to jump-start the clean energy economy. The results were disastrous. Many companies that received grants and loans under Obama went bankrupt. After losing billions of taxpayer dollars on clean energy projects, companies such as Fisker Automotive, Solyndra and A123 Systems became household names and poster children for Obama’s clean energy debacle.

While the percent of wind and solar power is rising following the Obama years, these sources of electricity currently only deliver about ten percent of the U.S. supply, reaching an estimate of seventeen percent in 2020.

Accordingly, the Green New Deal has an impossible amount of ground to cover in ten years. Reducing traditional forms of energy for electricity generation will be expensive and increase the possibility of power shortages.

New England is carrying out a diluted version of the Green New Deal, implementing state-mandated renewable energy standards, closing coal plants, reducing nuclear energy, and trying to fill the power gap with lower carbon dioxide-emitting natural gas.

Tinkering with the energy mix is harming the region. All six New England states made the top ten list of the most expensive states for electricity.

Most concerning, during the recent polar vortex, solar and wind power provided less than five percent of energy for electricity generation, about half of its regular contribution. ISO-New England, the nonprofit that controls the region’s electric power grid, is concerned about future electricity shortages because of the loss of traditional forms of energy.

Obama’s dreams of a high-speed rail line never developed, despite an $8 billion investment from his economic stimulus package. A number of states didn’t want the project, and California significantly cut back its high-speed rail plan.

California Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom just radically modified the high-speed rail line that was going to connect San Francisco with Los Angeles. Instead, the governor cut back the rail project to link Bakersfield to Merced, stating the original plan was too costly and would take too long.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell R-Ky., wants the Senate to vote on the Green New Deal resolution. Essentially, McConnell is setting a political trap by getting Democrats’ views of the resolution on record.

Ironically, Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., who appeared with freshmen Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., in announcing the Green New Deal resolution, is complaining about the vote.

Markey claimed the vote is an effort “to sabotage the movement we are building” and “to silence your voice.”

The problem for Democrats is that money can’t change the laws of physics.

The new wave of socialist policies advocated by the extreme and radical elements in the Democrat Party is going to backfire big-time on Democrats in the 2020 elections. (For more from the author of “Green New Deal: Doubling down on stupid” please click HERE)

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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., deserves credit — she’s a socialist, she went to Congress with an agenda, and she is using every opportunity available to her to advance that agenda.

Working together with Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., Ocasio-Cortez has released a framework for a Green New Deal, to be introduced in Congress as a nonbinding House resolution. The document outlines the broad goals for a Democratic legislative agenda to fight climate change. As a nonbinding resolution, its passage in the House would not make law, but it would declare Congress’ intent to meet these goals with future legislative action.

Ocasio-Cortez wants to achieve “net-zero greenhouse gas emissions” and will use a “10-year national mobilization” to do it. To call the policies she is proposing to meet those goals drastic would be a gross understatement. In this document is nothing short of a socialist program to vastly expand government power well beyond the constraints of the Constitution, remake the American economy by force, send the national debt completely out of sight, and invade the private lives of every American to do it all in just ten years. That’s not an exaggeration. Ocasio-Cortez’s own FAQ calls this plan a “massive transformation of our society” that will “mobilize every aspect of American society at a scale not seen since World War 2 to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions.” She’s referring to FDR’s wartime command economy, where civilian goods were not produced because of government prohibitions, the top income tax rate was 81 percent, ordinary nondurable goods were rationed, and the government exercised vast power over businesses and wages and restricted the economic life of all Americans.

Reviewing some lowlights of her plan shows that she is in fact asking for a command economy to fight climate change. The Green New Deal would attempt to:

Meet “100 percent of the power demand in the Unite States through clean, renewable, and zero-emission energy sources.” That means massive subsidies, a Washington D.C.-directed overhaul of the American electric grid, and the loss of every job on oil rigs, in coal mines, and in fracking in the country.

Upgrade “all existing buildings” in the United States and building new buildings to achieve maximal energy efficiency. Folks, “all existing buildings” means the government would remodel your house to be “energy efficient.”

Overhaul “transportation systems in the United States to eliminate pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.” This includes investing in “zero-emission vehicle infrastructure and manufacturing,” public transportation, and boondoggles like “high speed rail.” She actually told NPR her proposal is to expand high-speed rail to a “scale where air travel stops becoming necessary.” Private cars will need to be electric cars. And what happens if you own a private boat? No more gas-powered engines? Explain that to every sports fisherman in America. And all of this in just 10 years!

And then we get to the stuff that’s not directly climate-related:

“A Green New Deal must be developed through transparent and inclusive consultation, collaboration, and partnership with frontline and vulnerable communities, labor unions, worker cooperatives, civil society groups, academia, and businesses.” So the whole parade of left-wing special interest groups needs to be involved.

The Green New Deal will ensure the “public receives appropriate ownership stakes and returns on investment” through “community grants, public banks, and other public financing.” This is Ocasio-Cortez telling you the government will pay for all of this, which means higher taxes. Much higher.

Provide “resources, training, and high-quality education, including higher education, to all people of the United States with a focus on frontline and vulnerable communities.” She means free college.

Ensure “that the Green New Deal mobilization creates high-quality union jobs that pay prevailing wages … and guarantees wage and benefit parity for workers.” That’s a guaranteed jobs program with the following benefits: “a family-sustaining wage, adequate family and medical leave, paid vacations, and retirement security.”

A Green New Deal will “enact and enforc[e] trade rules, procurement standards, and border adjustments with strong labor and environmental protections” to “stop the transfer of jobs and pollution overseas” and “grow domestic manufacturing in the United States.” This means tariffs and protectionist trade barriers.

And finally, the government must provide “high-quality health care, affordable housing, economic security, and access to clean water, clean air, healthy and affordable food, and nature.” Straight-up socialism.

One thing I couldn’t find anywhere in this document is a statement on how these policies will actually counter or negate climate change. That’s because this is not about stopping climate change. Government policies in one country, even a country as large and powerful as the United States, cannot change the planet’s climate. Any notion of “fighting” climate change is purely symbolic — a feel-good excuse for socialists like Ocasio-Cortez to seize control of American economic activity, redistribute wealth, punish perceived privileged classes, and rigidly control what everybody can buy and how much money they have to buy it.

And what happens when the Constitution is trampled on and the nation is “mobilized”? Americans will be unfree and impoverished. (For more from the author of “Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Unveils Green New Deal Framework to Control Americans’ Lives” please click HERE)

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