Late last week, Saikat Chakrabarti, chief of staff for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, admitted the Green New Deal was not about the climate. Instead, the Green New Deal’s agenda was creating an entirely new economic paradigm in the United States, one with far less individual freedom.
The entire Green New Deal could be understood as a political version of the old bait-and-switch. It was intended to convince people that it was to help the environment. Instead, the public would get a package of legislation that would send America on the same path that Venezuela and socialist countries before it have embarked upon to economic ruin.
That would be bad enough, but to quote the late Billy Mays, “But wait, there’s more!” Largely ignored in the Green New Deal is that it would be a huge geopolitical gift to Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping.
Let’s not kid ourselves. China is no friend of America. Earlier this year, their harassment of a professor in New Zealand generated little media coverage, but is of great concern. Russia, of course, has long been a geopolitical foe of the United States. Even Obama figured that out after mocking Romney for that position in the 2012 debates.
The end of fuel like natural gas gives Putin the chance to be the only supplier of gas for Europe. This is huge geopolitical leverage. Then there is something that hasn’t been talked about: It cuts our already overstretched military by 50%. This would take the weapons-grade idiocy of retiring some of our carriers early, and we already don’t have enough carriers in the first place.
A United States Navy with only six aircraft carriers would be hard-pressed to win a naval conflict with the People’s Liberation Army Navy in the best-case scenario given its overall shortage of hulls. This would make the Beijing regime very happy. Our allies in the Pacific, though, would be in a very tight spot.
The Navy would not be the only service affected. The Air Force would lose half of its 55 fighter squadrons. The Army, of course, goes from ten active divisions to five. The Marines would also take a hit from their force structure of three active divisions and three active air wings.
At that point, America would be extremely hard-pressed to stop Russian aggression in Europe. Worse, NATO allies would note that situation as well. The countries of Eastern Europe who shook off Soviet domination in 1989-1991 would find themselves back in Moscow’s orbit.
We’re not even getting to what that means for the Middle East. Iran would likely be able to seize control of Yemen, and that terrorist-sponsoring regime would become more aggressive against shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. That would only be the beginning of what Iran would do, because that regime has openly declared its intention to wipe Israel off the map.
The 50% reduction in an already too-small force structure resulting from this agenda would leave America practically helpless on the world stage. The Green New Deal would be a huge geopolitical gift to Russia and China, and the damage to America’s national interest is reason enough to vote it down.
Harold Hutchison has 15 years of experience covering military issues for multiple outlets.
