Joe Biden’s director of climate propaganda, U.S. “climate envoy” John Kerry, has been reintroducing many of the radical environmental policies of the Obama administration, which is why Kerry is pushing or a “bold” carbon tax to end global warming.
When asked in a recent CNN interview about how Biden’s “Climate Day” executive orders were killing jobs, Kerry defended his new boss, saying that Biden considered coronavirus a perfect opportunity to change the economy. Not really a new idea because coronavirus has been used by the far-left to advance radical climate policies from the beginning.
Early in the so-called pandemic, there were attempts to include AOC’s Green New Deal in coronavirus stimulus packages as a way to help the U.S. economy recover and become more resilient to the climate crisis. The Democratic Socialists of America have connected coronavirus and global warming, and in an official statement released back in March 2020, DSA called the Green New Deal a “working class solution to the COVID-19 crisis.”
Kerry first made the coronavirus/global warming connection when he spoke at a December panel discussion hosted by the World Economic Forum in support of their plan to create a New World Order via the Great Reset. Here’s an excerpt of his comments:
“[The need for the Great Reset is] a reflection of the inability of democratic governments in many parts of the world to deliver. And I just have to put it bluntly. We’re certainly the primary exhibit. We’re exhibit number one.
“I think …. that the notion of a ‘reset’ is more important than ever before. I personally believe that we’re at the dawn of an extremely exciting time.
“I believe no government is fundamentally going to make the climate crisis go away. Government’s best effort is going to be to create a structure which will make it possible for certain things to happen. And the next opportunity for that structure to be fully defined is Glasgow.
“Now, I don’t believe—and I think Joe Biden, I know Joe Biden believes this—it’s not enough just to rejoin [the Paris Climate Accords] for the United States. It’s not enough for us to just do the minimum of what Paris requires.” (emphasis mine)
During the CNN interview, show host Fareed Zakaria brought up the carbon tax as the “best way” to change the economy and tackle the so-called climate crisis. John Kerry used the softball question as the perfect opportunity to begin pushing for a “bold” carbon tax to end global warming.
ZAKARIA: “And to really tackle the climate crisis and to really take on the, you know, because carbon is produced in so many different ways — and cement and steel and plastics. It’s much more than just the burning of fuel for transport. You need a carbon tax. Do you think that the United States could do that? That is the simplest price signal that will change, slowly but surely, change the economy. Can we do it?”
KERRY: “Well, we could do it I think. I mean, theoretically, yes. It is one option of many things we’re gonna have to consider and may wind up doing. There are many people who make the point, and I personally accept it, that that is one of the most significant, bold steps you can take to actually have an impact in a rapid way. And I believe there are ways to do that and make it very progressive, to protect people who have to drive long distances to get to work. Do things like that. There are ways to cushion any negative impacts on it.”
Did you catch that last part? John Kerry said carbon tax protections would be needed for people driving long distances. That means that his carbon tax policies won’t just be targeting big, bad energy companies. He’s talking about a carbon tax on vehicle emissions.
I wonder if the private jet John Kerry rode to Iceland in 2019 to receive his environmental leadership award will pay a carbon tax. Probably not, since his jet fuel apparently doesn’t stink. According to Kerry, he doesn’t want to be a polluter, but his jet “is the only choice for somebody like [him] who is traveling the world to win this battle.”
Here’s a fun fact: Kerry’s family Gulfstream GIV-SP spent around 22 hours and 22 minutes in the air over the past year, producing an estimated 116 metric tons of carbon from trips dating from Feb. 9, 2020, to Jan. 10, 2021. Yet, according to the EPA, the typical passenger vehicle emits about 4.6 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year.
But hey, let’s get rid of gas-burning cars, right? That’s essentially what Kerry said would be necessary in the CNN interview, even after his carbon tax plan.
“Here’s the but: We really need to do a great deal more than [a carbon tax]. General Motors just announced that they are going to be moving to pure electric cars. Nothing but electric in 15 years. A lot of European automotive manufacturers have made a similar kind of announcement, and I think that is the trend.”
If you’re sitting there thinking that Republicans will keep John Kerry from creating a carbon tax, think again.
Republicans have been working with Democrats for years on a creating a “conservative alternative” to radical global warming plans, and they have been behind the creation and implementation of a “carbon tax.”
One year ago, in a failed attempt to win over young faux conservatives and win back the House in 2020, Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy proposed a package of global warming legislation that focused on carbon capture tax subsidies, planting trees, and funding clean energy innovation. Though he didn’t specifically address the carbon tax issue, his plan “put a price on carbon” that makes it easier to monetize when such a tax becomes reality.
At the same time, 18 business leaders of major corporations — aka Republican campaign donors — met with senators from both parties pushing a carbon tax scheme proposed by the Climate Leadership Council, a group led by former Secretaries of State James Baker and recently deceased George Schultz.
The Baker Schultz Carbon Dividends Plan — dividends is code for tax — allegedly cuts CO₂ emissions in half by 2035, an amount greater than what was promised under the Paris Climate Accord. But the best socialist part of the plan redistributes collected dividends in the form of a $2000 annual check to a family of four.
In November 2019 I wrote an article about the push for carbon taxes, and I featured a video from an ad campaign by another Republican-backed group: Americans for Carbon Dividends.
Collect a tax and use the income to create a new entitlement. Obama would call that redistributing the wealth.
Don’t be surprised when Biden and the Republicans announce a “bipartisan” plan pushing for a carbon tax to end global warming. It’s the perfect “never let a crisis go to waste” opportunity to spread a little socialism and save the planet.
David Leach is the owner of the Strident Conservative. He holds people of every political stripe accountable for their failure to uphold conservative values, and he promotes those values instead of political parties.
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