Notes on the Green New Deal(s)

I have posted two announcements calling for a Green New Deal. One was offered by newly elected Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY), the other by the Green Party (USA). I have given each a first reading and have come to some sense of how they might complement one another. Again, this is only my first response to draft proposals from two progressive communities. I anticipate the proposals will evolve and my opinions will need further revision as well. So, here’s what I take from what I read.

Part 1 : Rep. Ocasio-Cortez’ Green New Deal

AOC has made it clear that she is not a ‘traditional Democrat,’ but a Democratic Socialist, akin to Bernie Sanders. Her successful campaign in New York was simple and potent: healthcare, living wage, education and housing. Nor was she shy of gun control, immigration, justice reform and civil rights. The Green New Deal (GND) she announced (https://ocasio2018.com/green-new-deal) on her website has six sections. The first five parts comprise most of the proposal, all the legislative and bureaucratic gobbledy-gook that draft legislation requires: definitions, jurisdiction, reporting, procedures, and funding. The last section, loosely termed “Scope of the Plan,” sets forth some goals and objectives the bill identifies as benchmarks to measure the success/effectiveness of the programs the legislation enables. This is in the current draft proposal, Section 6

:

   A. The Plan for a Green New Deal (and the draft legislation) shall be developed in order to achieve the following goals, in each case in no longer than 10 years from the start of execution of the Plan: 

• 100% of national power generation from renewable sources; 
• building a national, energy-efficient, “smart” grid;
• upgrading every residential and industrial building for state-of-the-art energy efficiency, comfort and safety;
• decarbonizing the manufacturing, agricultural and other industries; 
• decarbonizing, repairing and improving transportation and other infrastructure; 
• funding massive investment in the drawdown and capture of greenhouse gases; 
• making “green” technology, industry, expertise, products and services a major export of the United States, with the aim of becoming the undisputed international leader in helping other countries transition to completely carbon neutral economies and bringing about a global Green New Deal.

There are some obvious hurdles to jump. As long as Republicans control either one house of Congress or the White House, no GND will become law. We can depend on the oil lobby to do everything it can to derail, delay and defund this or any plan through its paid puppets on the Hill. In order to realize a GND, we will have to discredit the oil lobby & its agents, and replace them with legislators who understand what is at stake. We will have to create and disseminate a compelling narrative to overcome the false narrative that has held people in thrall for half a century.

There are also several points in the above list that can be initiated by local, state and regional authorities, without federal participation. Upgrading our homes and businesses to be more energy efficient is already happening in several states and municipalities. Similarly, states can set their own standards, rules and regulations to decarbonize agriculture and manufacturing, as well as transportation and other infrastructure. If we develop successful models and pilot programs in our cities and states, we will have laid the groundwork for federal support for coordinated national efforts. It won’t be easy, but the way forward seems obvious.

And the final two sections go beyond the usual rhetoric of reform:

   B. The Plan for a Green New Deal (and the draft legislation) shall recognize that a national, industrial, economic mobilization of this scope and scale is a historic opportunity to virtually eliminate poverty in the United States and to make prosperity, wealth and economic security available to everyone participating in the transformation. In furtherance of the foregoing, the Plan (and the draft legislation) shall: 

• provide all members of our society, across all regions and all communities, the opportunity, training and education to be a full and equal participant in the transition, including through a job guarantee program to assure a living wage job to every person who wants one; 
• take into account and be responsive to the historical and present-day experiences of low-income communities, communities of color, indigenous communities, rural and urban communities and the front-line communities most affected by climate change, pollution and other environmental harm; 
• mitigate deeply entrenched racial, regional and gender-based inequalities in income and wealth (including, without limitation, ensuring that federal and other investment will be equitably distributed to historically impoverished, low income, deindustrialized or other marginalized communities); 
• include additional measures such as basic income programs, universal health care programs and any others as the select committee may deem appropriate to promote economic security, labor market flexibility and entrepreneurism; and> 
• deeply involve national and local labor unions to take a leadership role in the process of job training and worker deployment. 

This may be the heart of the GND. The Plan would completely upend the system of white male privilege (patriarchy) that has historically oppressed and repressed ninety percent of all the people who live here (or have lived here since the sixteenth century). This aspect of the GND will likely encounter the most resistance because it challenges the most fundamental myths that the powerful, privileged minority holds dear. For our part, we will have to endure a lot of anger, resentment, vilification and hostility. This is where our experience and skillful practice of satyagraha will be essential. It will be through our living example of these ideals that we will realize the Plan over time. We will have to create and build the models in our communities to educate, train and employ people who have been excluded from participation. We might hearken back to the free clinics, food co-ops, free schools and workers’ collectives of a few decades past, incubators of today’s social and economic experiments. If this GND legislation is going to move through the halls of Congress (or equivalents in state legislatures) it will require the momentum of grassroots activism to get it going and keep it moving. The last point may be the most vital in determining the success of the Plan. We have got to revive unions in this country. We have to infiltrate, invigorate, agitate for true democratic participation. We have to bring unions to broader swaths of the population, not only laborers and service workers, but consumers (think bus riders), bank customers, students, health/ home/ auto insurance purchasers, any group of citizens who share a common interest Real that stands in conflict with the private interests of corporations. Here we will have to take some lessons from friends in Europe and come to terms with our own unhappy history.

C. The Plan for a Green New Deal (and the draft legislation) shall recognize that innovative public and other financing structures are a crucial component in achieving and furthering the goals and guidelines relating to social, economic, racial, regional and gender-based justice and equality and cooperative and public ownership set forth in paragraphs (2)(A)(i) and (6)(B). The Plan (and the draft legislation) shall, accordingly, ensure that the majority of financing of the Plan shall be accomplished by the federal government, using a combination of the Federal Reserve, a new public bank or system of regional and specialized public banks, public venture funds and such other vehicles or structures that the select committee deems appropriate, in order to ensure that interest and other investment returns generated from public investments made in connection with the Plan will be returned to the treasury, reduce taxpayer burden and allow for more investment.

These are invitations to build a more robust participatory economy as we move out of a petroleum-dependent, Wall Street-dominated political economy. I am not going to comment on the legislative language of the draft. People with experience and knowledge in drafting legislation can parse those elements of the proposal. There are a good number of economists who have been thinking about this for a while: Ralph Nader, Dean Baker, Richard Wolff, Thomas Linzey, come to mind, and there are many women, less well-known, with much to contribute to this part of the Plan. 

What I see here is a good start toward the goals many of us would like to achieve. The Congress as presently constituted will not support or pass anything like it. Speaker Pelosi might allow a reading and send it to committee for further development. If it goes to committee, we will have to stay alert to prevent it being weakened, writing and calling members, to let them know, we are watching. In the meantime, we need to work to build a broad constituency in support of the GND. That is where the Green Party’s version of the Green New Deal can be effective.

Part 2: The Green Party (USA) Green New Deal

Here is the website of the Green Party (USA) and the current incarnation of the Green New Deal from the party platform.

https://gpus.org/organizing-tools/the-green-new-deal/ 

The language here is clearly not primarily legislative. It is about policies and programs, based on shared values and common goals. It is polemical, educational and almost revolutionary. It consists of four parts: I. The Economic Bill of Rights; II. A Green Transition; III. Real Financial Reform; and IV. A Functioning Democracy. Briefly, let’s look at each of these four “pillars.”

The Economic Bill of Rights details and highlights issues implied in AOC’s Plan. It covers the progressive gamut from single-payer health care, tuition-free education, affordable housing and living-wage employment to campaign finance reform, fair taxation and publicly owned utilities. The second pillar is about (1) investing in green businesses, (2) supporting green research & development, and (3) providing green jobs. While these objectives are presented in general terms, there is plenty of room for local initiatives of all kinds to realize any and all of these transitional steps. The direction is certainly clear without being doctrinaire.

The third pillar is definitively prescriptive:

The takeover of our economy by big banks and well-connected financiers has destabilized both our democracy and our economy. It’s time to take Wall Street out of the driver’s seat and to free the truly productive segments of working America to make this economy work for all of us. Real Financial Reform will:

1. Relieve the debt overhang holding back the economy by reducing homeowner and student debt burdens.

2. Democratize monetary policy to bring about public control of the money supply and credit creation. This means we’ll nationalize the private bank-dominated Federal Reserve Banks and place them under a Monetary Authority within the Treasury Department.

3. Break up the oversized banks that are “too big to fail.”

4. End taxpayer-funded bailouts for banks, insurers, and other financial companies. We’ll use the FDIC resolution process for failed banks to reopen them as public banks where possible after failed loans and underlying assets are auctioned off.

5. Regulate all financial derivatives and require them to be traded on open exchanges.

6. Restore the Glass-Steagall separation of depository commercial banks from speculative investment banks.

7. Establish a 90% tax on bonuses for bailed out bankers.

8. Support the formation of federal, state, and municipal public-owned banks that function as non-profit utilities.

This part overlaps AOC’s GND Section C (Part 6) that proposes changes in the financing of the Plan. The Green Party is quite specific in these matters, and it will be interesting to see how much of their program/proposal will make it into AOC’s proposal. This will be an area of struggle in the months to come. We should expect to have a number of rounds of “Duelling Economists” before this is settled. I’m not ready to speak to these points yet, but overall, I support them.

The fourth pillar is essentially a call for revolution, at least in our hearts & heads. It is calling for a new vision of politics in America, very much in harmony with the Democratic Socialist tradition that began with Michael Harrington, that now harbors Alexandria and Bernie, as well as your humble analyst. It contains eight points, with some detailed actions, that I can support without reservation, at this point. Rather than copy and paste them, I urge you to follow the link above and see for yourself.

In conclusion, I do not see these as competing or conflicting proposals. I would suggest that we look for opportunities to bring them together, as two allies working to form a stronger united front. Remember, our collective enemy is formidable, powerful, ruthless, experienced, wealthy and ‘connected.’ Our strength is our numbers, our commitment, our cause, our trust in each other, and the love that sustains our communities. The earth will abide, whether we are here or not. Climate change, global warming, whatever you call it, it is no longer in dispute. What matters now are the choices we make and the actions we take for the sake of our children and grandchildren, unto the seventh generation.