Will coronavirus hysteria lead to passage of Green New Deal?

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For over a month now, I’ve been writing about how government at every level has been leveraging the COVID-19 pandemic to create a liberty-killing, tyrannical police state.

From Donald Trump and his allies in Congress all the way down to governors, mayors, and other local government officials, Republicans and Democrats have joined forces — despite their fake blame-game antics — to turn America into a land that would be unrecognizable to the generations of Americans who have gone before us.

Over the past six weeks, tyrants in government have given us:

Now we’re beginning to hear about the need to use coronavirus hysteria as an opportunity to address so-called climate change by including the Green New Deal in the next coronavirus stimulus package.

For example, in a New York Times op-ed, Rhiana Gunn-Wright, director of climate policy at the Roosevelt Institute, is calling for a stimulus package designed “…not only to help the U.S. economy recover but to also become more resilient to the climate crisis, the next multitrillion-dollar crisis headed our way.” Her op-ed said, in part:

“Leaders on both sides of the aisle have argued that folding policies to address climate and environmental injustice into coronavirus-related legislative packages would distract from efforts to provide immediate relief. But addressing climate change and environmental injustice will not diffuse efforts to address the virus and its economic fallout if we apply intersectional policies such as the Green New Deal. They are designed to address connected issues in a way that protects the most vulnerable while building a more just and sustainable economy.

“If history is any indication, rebounding from an economic disruption this large requires an equally large spike in demand and production. Outside of war, climate change is the only issue large enough to provide such a spike. Now is the time to create policies that provide immediate relief to communities, such as federal assistance to transition homes and businesses to renewable energy; give “green” fiscal aid to states; and fuel economic recovery with the creation of federally funded green jobs. But none of this can happen so long as our leaders keep convincing themselves that the greatest country in the world cannot walk and chew gum at the same time.

“A climate-focused economic recovery — much less a coronavirus response that acknowledges the climate crisis — could require a new Congress and a new president, a tall order in an America this divided. But maybe it is time to stop acting as though politics is a force of nature when we are facing actual and deadly forces of nature. It’s past time to elect leaders who are fit to handle the crises we face, instead of hoping for problems small enough to fit the leaders we have.”

In an opinion piece for TheHill.com, Amanda D. Rodewald, a faculty member in the Department of Natural Resources at Cornell University and fellow at Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability, blamed “poor air quality” for the spread of COVID-19 in black, Hispanic, and other “under-resourced communities.”

There were failed efforts to include parts of the Green New Deal in the $2.2 trillion stimulus Trump recently signed into law, but that doesn’t mean it’s been defeated. Trump, Pelosi, and Schumer have been working together on a so-called infrastructure spending bill for over a year. Now, with the COVID-19 pandemic being used as a justification, they have all gone on record in support of a $2 trillion stimulus bill to address “critical infrastructure.”

One critical area identified by Chuck and Nancy is . . . wait for it . . . climate change.

Ironically, coronavirus hysteria is managing to accomplish some of the goals of the Green New Deal — at least temporarily. Take for instance, the goal of eliminating the internal combustion engine and the burning fossil fuels. Thanks to stay at home orders and shutting down the economy, this has essentially been achieved. If you want to know what a Green New Deal America will look like, coronavirus hysteria gives you a pretty good indication.

One last thought: Even if climate change provisions aren’t included in the next stimulus, it’s only a delay of the inevitable. Now that Trump and the GOP have redefined what constitutes a national emergency and have expanded the powers of the presidency during a so-called emergency, the next Democrat president can — and most likely will — declare climate change a national emergency. Once declared, he or she will use the same dictatorial power Trump used and shut down all or part of the economy to address the “crisis” — probably with Republican support.

And by that time, there won’t by anything that anyone can do about it.

 

David Leach is the owner of the Strident Conservative. He holds people of every political stripe accountable and promotes conservative principles over political parties.

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