Why would anyone be against a bill that creates American jobs and saves the planet? And why is Mitch McConnell so anxious to bring it to the floor only to crush it, exposing his and the GOP’s opposition to such an important bill?
Pertaining to the first question, I can guarantee you, the answer is not because the Green New Deal doesn’t have the potential to help accomplish those lofty goals. Rather it is because McConnell and his allies care far less about creating American jobs or saving the earth than they do about the large sums of money they receive from the fossil fuel industry. The senators poised to vote against the GND are on average, elderly. They know they might not be around in ten or 20 years when the ever-worsening climate and economic conditions they’re refusing to address will become unbearable. Better to live for the moment and enjoy the dark money campaign funds they receive fro the fossil fuel industry. Sadly, it’s not ‘America First’, it’s ‘Me First - Fuck Everyone Else.’ So they do the bidding of the upper echelon of the fossil fuel industry, jobs and environment be damned.
Pertaining to the second question, McConnell will surely get all the help he needs from Fox News and the rest of the conservative media complex to sway their followers that the GND is some kind of socialist plot to destroy America. He knows the their propaganda machine have successfully convinced a large swath of the American public to vote against their own best interests before. He also has the help from our current president, an expert in discrediting any person, institution or idea that doesn’t profit or glorify him.
The irony is that if they expended as much energy and money to lead the way to creating clean renewable energy as they are fighting it, they and their grandchildren would find that they would actually profit from the stronger economy the GND would create. The myth spewed by the right that converting to clean energy is bad for the economy and will cost us jobs is absolutely wrong. The GND offers an opportunity to lead the world in creating green energy, creating jobs and making our planet more inhabitable. If we continue to burn fossil fuels, the icecaps will continue to melt, sea levels will rise and more money will be spent on disaster relief making food, potable water and land evermore sparse and expensive.
The heads of the fossil fuel industry, the politicians and media outlets who take their money to obstruct legislation or spread disinformation are greedy, short term thinkers. They don’t understand they can’t sustain a prosperous future in a self-created dystopian future. These greedy fossil fools will destroy us all if we don’t stop them. Now they are challenged by courageous people like Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, who aren’t afraid to buck a dangerously corrupt system. I encourage you to actively support the Green New Deal now, like your future depends on it.