If the Devil is in the details then we better put the Devil on speed dial.
Proponents of the Green New Deal laid out their plan this week. It explained a lot about this ambitious progressive agenda.
It contains a lot of good ideas but at this point it still isn’t complete enough, at least for a lot of us layman, to gauge it’s most important factor: Will it work.
This isn’t a criticism. This is a really complex thing and you need to start with broad goals and ideas and add more specifics as you zero in on how you want to achieve these goals. It would behoove everyone on both sides of the political spectrum to hold their fire until we have a better understanding of what needs to be done, how it’ll be done and – this is important for some of us – what it will cost and how we’ll pay for it.
Early attacks from the Right would appear to be nothing more than partisan sniping worth little credence, but blind adherence from the Left without understanding the nuts and bolts of it is just as worthless.
Again, there are a lot of good ideas here but we need to know more.
The plan identifies two crises: the climate crisis and an economic crisis of wage stagnation and growing inequality. It lists five goals:
*To achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions.
*To create millions of good high-wage jobs and ensure prosperity and economic security for all citizens.
*To invest in infrastructure and industry to meet the challenges of the 21st Century.
*To secure clean air and water, climate and community resiliency, healthy food, access to nature and a sustainable environment.
*To promote justice and equity.
It calls for a 10-year national mobilization and lists various goals and projects to be tackled to achieve the plan’s desired results.
Look, there’re a lot of smart people who’re going to be writing a lot of really good and informative material on the Green New Deal. A lot of us, including me, aren’t going to get all the ins and outs of economic philosophy and the technical aspects of achieving the plan’s goals. That’s fine. We have plenty of people in this country who can handle that.
It’s easy to get lost in the technical aspects of something like this, not to mention the rhetoric and talking points. Maybe we need to boil it down to a few questions:
*What do you want to do?
*Why do you want to do it?
*How do you want to do it?
*Why will your ideas work?
*What will it cost and how are we going to pay for it?
There are varying philosophies on how much we should be concerned about our growing national debt. Mine comes from the day-to-day life position that it’s not good to be piling up more debt every year.
Now, there’s good debt and bad debt. For instance, going into debt for a house, a car so you can get to work and other places, and your kids’ education, assuming you can meet the monthly payments, is good debt.
But when you start stretching your ability to pay by adding things like a boat, more cars and a bunch of other stuff you don’t need, now you’re in bad debt territory.
In that regard, I see priorities like addressing climate change, universal healthcare, education and an effective social safety net as good debt for our country. Some other things would be nice to have but might be pushing our indebtedness to a dangerous place.
These are tough decisions. Like the ones parents make concerning their children, as opposed to the kids’ favorite uncle who lets them do and have whatever they want.
The time is ripe for things like the Green New Deal. The last two years have shown us without a doubt that the Republicans have no interest in real governing, have no answer to our country’s problems and are simply a party that has embraced corruption and whatever else is needed to retain power and pursue its pro-rich, anti-poor-and-middle-class agenda.
The stark contrast between the two parties and the inept impotency of the GOP has opened the door to great progressive ideas. It’s now time to put up or shut up, meaning we need to articulate what we want to do, how we want to do it and all the details that go along with it.
It’s our responsibility to hold our progressive leaders’ feet to the fire, not to stymie their effort but to make sure it’s done right. Remember, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
So it becomes our job, as well as our politicians, to not just make this a time of change but a time of successful, long-lasting, not-going-to-be-reversed-as-soon-as-the-Republicans-get-back-in-power change.
We may not be sitting in on all the planning meetings, but we better be ready to demand answers to common sense questions and concerns. It’s a debate our side must have. It’ll make our case stronger and more able to stand up to attacks from its opponents.
We know the Republicans are going to make this an ugly fight. (Expect endless cries of “socialism” from the Right.) It might even get ugly between Democrats but that’s OK. It’ll help us forge an agenda with the best chance to have the greatest success.
And somewhere amid all the noise that ought to be the main goal.
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Musings of a Nobody 