Radical firebrand Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has teamed up with Senator Edward Markey, a leftwing political dinosaur from Massachusetts, in presenting a resolution in Congress for support of AOC's Green New Deal.  The tedious details of this deal are here.

For our purposes it suffices to say that the GND has three pillars -- 1) 100-percent clean energy by 2050, 2) massive government spending for communities on the front line of poverty and pollution, and 3) a guarantee of a 'quality' job for all. This is a hodgepodge of every imaginable progressive cause. If implemented it would spell the end of America as we know it, not to mention the death of millions.  This latter point may be one of the objectives of the GND. For the longest time, radical environmentalists have been labeling humans as a form of pollution spoiling the earth.

As to the cost of GND, Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) has it covered. Basically, MMT claims that becasue government has a monopoly on money, it can run deficits to the sky. It is scary that many people believe that. It's understandable the dependency class does, as it takes the brakes off the limit on what they can receive. But it is still a hair-brained idea.  

Incredibly, some 70 members of the House and about twelve senators have signed on as co-sponsors with AOC and Markey to the GND.

There is no denying that the GND has traction on the left. This is part of the ongoing fallout from the impressive run socialist Bernie Sanders made in the 2016 Democrat presidential primaries.  Informed opinion is if the Democrats dare run on the GND in 2020, Donald Trump will beat them like a drum. And that's true, which is why the GND will not be in the 2020 Democrat Party platform. So, the question needs to be asked: Is there a method to this madness? The answer is yes.

In spite of their over-the-top rhetoric, proponents of the GND don't expect it to be accepted in toto. What they are doing is throwing their wish list against the wall of public acceptance to see what sticks. This is an example of the Overton Window in action.  Let me explain.

Joe Overton of the conservative Mackinac Center for Public Policy, says politicians will constrain themselves to acting only within the window of ideas approved by the voting public. By putting out a smorgasbord of radical proposals, progressives want to find which ones are appeal to voters. According to Overton,

Since commonly held ideas, attitudes and presumptions frame what is politically possible and create the 'window.' a change in the opinions held by politicians and the people in general will shift it. Move the window of what is politically possible and those policies previously impractical can become the next great popular and legislative rage.

So through public opinion, the progressives are hoping to open the Overton window wide enough so that some of the aspects of the GND passed. And the longer a position can be creditably maintained in the public dialogue, even absurd one, the greater the chances it will ultimately be accepted in one form or another. This is how homosexual marriage gained legal and even cultural acceptance. Traditional marriage was the like a frog boiled in water of gradual increasing temperature.

The progressives think they can get away with this because they're relying on the Democrat-controlled media to push the embarrassing failed parts of the GND down the memory by 2020. Yes, people will remember Ocasio-Cortez because of her high profile. But to the Left, she's an expendable commodity, a sacrificial lamb. The woman has a short political life span once her role is over.

This strategy is flawed, however. The left is living in the past when the mainstream media had a monopoly on disseminating the news. But now there's the Internet and talk radio. Also, Trump has seriously damaged the trustworthiness of the media. The alternative media will keep the details of the GND alive in the minds of enough people to make a difference in 2020. The best weapon against the GND is MAGA.

Photo credit: YouTube screen grab