In the catalog of political folly, one of the most dangerous notions among conservatives is that some left-wing ideas are so nuts they’ll never happen. Just such a trap was sprung last week when socialist Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., unveiled her Green New Deal. Among other things, it demands the reconstruction of every building in America — that’s 2,000 to 3,000 a day, according to independent presidential candidate Howard Schultz — to make them all climate-friendly. It also demands the elimination of all fossil fuels and air travel within a decade.
Some conservatives joke that the plan’s author is a Republican mole who burrowed into Democratic ranks years ago and is only now surfacing with devastating work to ensure the re-election of President Trump in 2020. It is mildly amusing to contemplate the possibility.
But this fantastical, fringe, left-wing idea, like others before it, has already been embraced by every leading Democrat with a serious possibility of wielding power from the Oval Office. Democratic Sens. Kamala Harris California, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, and no doubt sundry others, subscribed to the Green New Deal on day one. In an election cycle in which, unless we delude ourselves, we must acknowledge that the Democratic nominee will be well placed to triumph, all leading contenders for that garland now sponsor a socialist plan to fix America’s wagons.
Relevant here is the suggestion attributed to Dorothy Parker that … but before I get to Dorothy Parker, having secured your attention, let me draw it to some of the great reads in this week’s Washington Examiner magazine. Aside from Timothy P. Carney’s excellent cover story, adapted from his new book, Alienated America, which explains the cultural collapse that brought us Trump, please check out the following: Corie Whalen’s expose of fiscally hawkish forces she joined to bring spending discipline on Washington, and of those forces that defeated them; Philip Terzian’s explanation of the suicide missions undertaken by independent presidential candidates; Hollywood’s brief years taking the communist menace seriously; the injustice of social justice warriors; the crumbling of the Oreo cookie; and our sad yet celebratory obituary for the teenage Mars Opportunity Rover.
But back to Dorothy Parker. She is said to have suggested that some books are so bad that they should not be put lightly aside but should be thrown with great force. It is the same with some political ideas. They are so awful that a mild and insouciant chuckle at their expense amounts to a self-deceiving dereliction of political duty. They should be taken seriously, attacked vigorously, humiliated, ground to dust, and extirpated thoroughly. The next Democratic presidential platform is likely to include some version of the Green New Deal. Conservatives should take up arms and kill it.
