The Green New Deal, officially unveiled by Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Ed Markey on Thursday, is the biggest Democratic challenge to the status quo since the early days of Barack Obama's administration.
The slight 14-page document is a call to arms, to wean the US economy off fossil fuels, provide health care for all, increase wages for the poorest, and increase union rights. The proposed 10-year "economic mobilization" would stimulate the economy, but it would require a huge (unspecified) government outlay. It is bold, visionary, wide-ranging, a little vague ... and potentially divisive.
Many (but by no means all) Republicans are laughing it off at the moment, calling for the Democrats to bring it on, convinced that it is in their interests to show the American public just how loony-left and pie-in-the-sky the Democratic Party is now. They are using phrases like "socialist fever dream", "socialist manifesto", "policy piñata", "crazy" and "loony".
Many high profile Democrats have come out in strong support of the bill, but it has also split the Democrats to some extent, even among those who have been active on the climate change issue. Some senior, and more cautious, Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, seem loath to pursue it at this time, worried that it may alienate the American public and split the Democratic caucus at a time when they have just begun to consolidate power, following their 2018 mid-term gains.
And I have to wonder if they're not perhaps right. Personally, I can find nothing to object to in the bill, but is it going to be too much too fast for notoriously small-c conservative America? Am I just being wishy-wash by advising that a dose of realpolitik be injected into the debate? Is there a risk of extending Donald Trump's reign of terror by pursuing a worthy but politically impractical goal?
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