Dear Citizens and Elected Officials:
Introduction:
Over the past few months, the Green New Deal has come to rapidly dominate the national environmental and economic policy discussion in a way that few American movements for change have ever done. In good part, we can thank the risk taking by the Sunrise movement of young people, and the charisma and audacity shown by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Even Steve Bannon, busy organizing the nationalist Right in Europe and indeed, around the world, paid homage to her talents, stating that she is the real thing and that what she possesses can’t be taught — and that’s why I use the word charisma. Therefore, I was happy to see Time magazine recognize her achievements on the cover of its April 1, 2019, edition, with a photograph that shows a serious, thoughtful AOC looking off into the distance: hopefully, looking at a better American future on two broad fronts. The cover page title is “The Phenom” and just below that is further just due: “Changing the Climate Fight.”
I write now in early April as the counter-attacks on the Green New Deal (GND) have mounted from all quarters: from specializing environmental groups on the ecological left, like Food and Water Watch and the sprawling and complicated movement for alternative agriculture, to the not surprising hysteria of the Republican Right, pounding the “Socialism” key and itemizing all the cherished products of American consumer culture that the GND would take away, from hamburgers to air travel.
From inside the Democratic Party come the charges of over-reach, Utopianism, and the possibility of frightening swing voters, Independents in purple states. Despite the fact that the Resolution has a jobs guarantee and a pledge of a “just transition” for displaced fossil fuel workers, portions of the AFl-CIO most dependent on fossil-fuel industry current jobs fired off a tough complaint letter on March 8, 2019, which, naturally enough, was mostly picked up and Trumpeted (sorry) by the conservative press. In another forum, I had this to say about it:
The letter was, strangely enough, not signed by Richard Trumka, the head of the organization; rather, it was from the “AFL-CIO Energy Committee “ and had two signatures: Cecil Roberts of the United Mine Workers, first and most prominently and Lonnie Stevenson, of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, followed by eight others: including “Laborers International Union of North America,” aka “LUNA”; the United Steelworkers, the Boilermakers, Ironworkers, Operating Engineers and the Building Trades and the “United Association” representing plumbers and pipefitters.
Now let me be cold-eyed and realistic about this. We greens know from long experience, ever since the first Earth Day in 1970, that when we oppose a project offering jobs, that the unions almost always turn out at hearings on the other side of the issue, in favor of the project. It happened most recently in Maryland on fracking, which the state banned, and the Potomac Pipeline (fracked gas pipeline) , which our Board of Public Works stopped in early January of 2019 by a 3-0 vote, including Republican Governor Larry Hogan. And a quick look look at the Green New Deal and its goals, one of five in the Resolution is to “achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions” — which will replace many fossil fuel based jobs — but then, in the consistent spirit of the Resolution, of the Green New Deal and the Sunrise movement, those words are immediately followed by: “through a fair and just transition for all communities and workers.” ( From Page 5, 1(A), immediately after the sentence “it is the duty of Federal Government to create a Green New Deal.”)
The reaction of a portion of the AFL-CIO seems unfortunately stuck in the worst of the ruts of an organization that has failed its members, failed the working people of the nation, and rolls over and plays dead inside the Democratic party even after Democratic President after Democratic President — Carter, Clinton and Obama — broke their promises to pass labor law reform. Loyal troops they surely are: to what end though? The Democratic Party takes them for granted because they haven’t had the nerve, backbone or vision to make a justified threat — ‘We’re Fed Up, and we’re not going to take it anymore’ - and back it up. Like various teachers unions did over the past two years. And the National Nurses Union before them. To walk, balk, strike or whatever tactic they might choose to express their unhappiness, for which they have excellent grounds.
Let’s keep this in perspective though. What’s so strange about the unhappy portion of the AFl-CIO letter is that the Green New Deal Resolution itself goes out of its way to reach out to what’s left of the union “movement.” On page three it points out that in addition to the climate crisis (which is also a more general ecological crisis ushering in the Sixth Extinction) “...the United States is currently experiencing several related crises...”: they include, declining life expectancy, “a 4-decade trend of economic stagnation, deindustrialization, and antilabor policies that has led to...” declining wages, “erosion of the earning and bargaining power of workers...the greatest income inequality since the 1920’s...a large racial wealth divide...a gender earnings gap...”
Editor’s Note: Some good colleagues here in Western Maryland just sent me this article, which appeared at Truthout today, April 6th: “Union Locals Build Support for the Green New Deal’s ‘Just Transition.’” by Candice Bernd...Joe Uehlein of the Labor Network for Sustainability makes some excellent points; this is a “clear eyed” piece about how to win over the reluctant portions of labor, who are defending existing turf, and gets around to discussing the not so great jobs (pay and non-union) in the leading alternative energy industries. And looks to the New Deal’s Rural Electric Administration for some guidance — and inspiration.
truthout.org/…
The Green New Deal as expressed in the 14 page Resolution from February 7th spans enormous proposed economic and ecological changes, on the order of the first New Deal, which did not abolish capitalism, far from it, but gave the nation a very different form of capitalism from that of the Gilded Age and the Roaring Twenties. And the coalition which supported those changes lasted until about the mid-1970’s, when capitalism itself was again in throes of one of its major transformations, and Republicans were busy peeling off culturally conservative workers and other citizens from their New Deal Democratic Party voting habits, especially in the South and West, and further, other rural areas of the country. The economic and cultural upheavals of the 1960’s continued into the 1970’s and gave birth to the Religious Right, which has come to the point where it will support the most unlikely of “Christian” Presidents, a fully modernized real estate mogul from New York City, who is as close as I ever want to see to an American demagogue. That’s despite — or perhaps in good part because of the fact that rural “red-state” America is suffering the most from economic neglect and de-industrialization, and passing through a deep morale crisis as well, leading to our opioid crisis and the related “Deaths of Despair.”
That’s why the resolution addresses rural American “farmers and ranchers” on page 8, provides a job guarantee “with family-sustaining” wages and benefits on page 12, echoing FDR’s Second Bill of Rights from 1944, and in part backs up that pledge with a goal of “upgrading all existing buildings in the United States...to achieve maximal energy efficiency, water efficiency, safety...”
This buildings pledge has been intensely attacked by the Republican Right. They forget that the famous McKinsey consulting firm, a “good capitalist firm,” has churned out policy papers urging the same direction since 2009, driven by the obvious advantages to the nation of such a program, and the opportunity presented by the Great Financial crisis of 2007-2009. It’s a chance to make great connections based on the WPA and CCC models from the first New Deal, but on the basis of more permanent jobs, to reach out to all those desiring full time work who now only get part time, and to the building trades unions who ought to see this not as a threat, but a great, constructive opening for new members and good jobs ...and could be extended to re-integrate all those coming out of drug-treatment programs and who have finished serving their time in prison.
Let’s not forget that the Civilian Conservation Corps was aimed at unemployed young men, who in 1929-1932 were often riding the rails as “hobos,” living in the Hoovervilles which we now have once again outside our major warm weather cities — perhaps we could call them “Greenspanvilles” - and those with lives headed into criminal activity. In other words, a Climate Conservation Corps today would seek to repair not only climate and other environmental damage, but to help repair the human spirit, those whose lives lack direction and inspiration.
Well, that’s a lot of ground to cover in a 15-20 minute speech, and I didn’t try to write one; I spoke informally, but made sure that my broadest thoughts would be left in the form of a one page, two sided hand-out which I now reproduce below. It represents my sense of those who are doing the best, most comprehensive writing about the Green New Deal.
And remember this important point, which I didn’t have room to make: that the ecological side is leading the economic side in depth and understanding. In future postings, I will try to address the missing economic paradigm and national discussion: what will replace the fraying but still reigning “Neoliberalism?” Will it be Modern Monetary Theory, which has been attacked by Larry Summers, and given the back-of-the-hand by Paul Krugman?
I asked my Democratic Party audience in far Western Maryland for a show of hands for who had heard of “Neoliberalism?” Not a single one was raised; I pointed out that well, that’s the basic economic philosophy that we have all been living under since Reagan, embraced by the Democratic Centrists as well as the far Right. And that’s what we must overcome, and defeat in a battle of ideas coming up, as important as the battle of Midway in the Pacific in WWII, and especially in how we answer the question: how will we pay for it?
And that’s why Centrist economist Brad DeLong has made a break with his old hopes for bi-partisan support for centrist proposals, support from the Right which never came. Only silence and scorn. He’s going to work with the left from now on...www.vox.com/… I’ve never seen a major economist use such earthy language, signaling his frustration with the Right; it’s a good sign! Out of the lecture halls and into the policy trenches.
The struggle for the vision for our nation, and for the identity of the Democratic Party centers on the tension between the sweep of the proposals of the Green New Deal, and the old incrementalism. It has resulted in no plan, and no vision in response to the Republican Right for now on...forty or more years...It’s a long shot, the Green New Deal’s breadth and purpose is, driven by the urgency of climate scientists, and realizing that we must create, by broad democratic affirmation of our citizens, the same sense of crisis and purpose that accompanied the mobilization for World War II. In that task, creating that sense of national purpose, the ecological left is ahead of the economic left. These two movements must work together, because the two now are inseparable in practice, and if they remain apart, as they have been, we fail. We fail as a party, as a nation, and as the dominant life form on the planet, which cannot survive in any palatable way without stopping our own onslaught against Nature.
My closing quote, from Naomi Klein, puts the choice — duty actually - bluntly:
The Green New Deal is “ a potential lifeline that we all have a sacred and moral duty to reach for.”
So here’s what I left my audience with, a few quotes, and what I feel are the best current sources…
A Green New Deal
“The Green New Deal merges, for the first time, two powerful reform currents in American history: the conservation movement from the late 19th century and the economic justice movement from the Populist revolt of the 1890’s. Both made significant, but not integrated contributions to the New Deal of 1933-1939. They have now been fused in a Congressional Resolution introduced on February 7, 2019. The drivers of this fusion between ecology and economics are the science-based urgency to combat climate disruption and the refusal of young Americans, many in the Sunrise movement, to accept a political status quo which has no plan to protect them - or us. The 14 page GND Resolution placed before the Congress and the American people is the most sweeping outline for change in our nation’s 242 year history.” - William R. Neil, April, 2019
“The Green New Deal is, at its heart, a form of social democratic populism. Its intent is to involve the entire citizenry in the shared project of adapting to the 21st century and in so doing materially improve the quality of life of the poor and middle class. It is an attempt to rebalance the economy and the political system, away from a monomaniacal form of private goods, towards a more generous view of public goods and public purpose…The investments and the job guarantee take the GND out of the realm of environmental policy and move it into the realm of transformational economic policy…Climate politics is, now as ever, a choice between changes that seem impossible and a future that seems unthinkable…Long shots are the only shots left.” David Roberts, at Vox, December, 2018.
“Drawing out these connections in ways that capture the public imagination will take a massive exercise in participatory democracy. A first step is for every sector touched by the Green New Deal — hospitals, schools, universities, and more — to make their own plans for how to rapidly decarbonize while furthering the Green New Deal’s mission to eliminate poverty, create good jobs, and close the racial and gender wealth divides… this is a potential lifeline that we all have a sacred and moral responsibly to reach for.” Naomi Klein, at The Intercept, “The Battle Lines Have Been Drawn on the Green New Deal,” February 13, 2019, https://theintercept.com/2019/02/13/green-new-deal-proposal/
Reading and Resources:
Online Articles and Sites
The Resolution Itself: https://ocasio-cortez.house.gov/sites/ocasio-cortez.house.gov/files/Resolution%20on%20a%20Green%20New%20Deal.pdf
William R. Neil as “bill of rights” at the Daily Kos, multiple articles: https://www.dailykos.com/user/billofrights/history
David Roberts at Vox, “The Green New Deal Explained”: https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2018/12/21/18144138/green-new-deal-alexandria-ocasio-cortez
David Roberts at Vox, “The Green New Deal and the case against incremental climate policy”: https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2019/3/28/18283514/green-new-deal-climate-policy
Richard Walker, Director of the Living New Deal, editorial in the Washington Post, Feb. 26, 2019, “Nine Principles that Should Guide the Green New Deal”: https://livingnewdeal.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Nine-principles-that-should-guide-the-Green-New-Deal-The-Washington-Post.pdf
Ezra Silk of the Climate Mobilization, The Victory Plan, https://www.theclimatemobilization.org/victory-plan
The Living New Deal: Projects in Maryland (167…still counting): https://livingnewdeal.org/us/md/
Brent McKee, New Deal Daily Blogspot, March 4, 2019, “AOC’s Green New Deal and FDR’s Green New Deal,” http://nddaily.blogspot.com/2019/03/aocs-green-new-deal-and-fdrs-green-new.html
Sunrise Movement: https://www.sunrisemovement.org/
Books
Long Range Public Investment: The Forgotten Legacy of the New Deal, by Robert D. Leighninger Jr. Univ. of South Carolina Press, 2007. Without reservation, the best I’ve read.
Franklin D. Roosevelt and The New Deal, 1932-1940, William E. Leuchtenburg, a Harper’s 2009 reissue of the original from 1963. If you know nothing about the New Deal, start here. The “Dean” of New Deal historians. Met him in 2008.
Dust Bowl: The Southern Plains in the 1930’s, Donald Worster, orig. pub. in 1979, reissued 2004, won the Bancroft Prize for the author, an ecological historian. One of the best.
Best to you all,
Bill of Rights
Frostburg, MD