The ACLJ’s 5-Point Plan to Combat the Radical Left’s New Socialist Agenda

Surfacing from the corrupt mind of Karl Marx in the 19th century, socialism has found new life in Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s recently issued Green New Deal (GND) resolution, which was introduced in the House of Representatives this past week. Although we have previously explained the inescapable evil associated with socialism, left-wing politicians, sparked by the results of last November’s midterm election, are now proposing a GND. The GND—representing the political left’s hot pursuit of radical ideas—offers a clear warning to America that Karl Marx’s vision suggesting that “Democracy is the road to socialism” is poised to be fulfilled unless Americans respond vigorously and vigilantly to this existential threat to (1) liberty, (2) the rule of law, and (3) our constitutional republic.

The GND proposes the elimination of fossil fuel as a source of energy and possibly the elimination of cattle because of the methane gas they produce, the replacement of air travel by trains that would apparently cross oceans without carbon fuel, and the eradication of nuclear power plants despite the fact that nuclear power does not rely on fossil fuel. These bizarre proposals—coming shortly after progressives supported laws that would allow abortion up to the moment of birth —would cost trillions of dollars financed by printing money. Spurred by the unwarranted fear that the world will end in twelve years unless Rep. Ocasio-Cortez’s plan is enacted, more than 60 members of the House of Representatives and 9 Senators have announced their support for these proposals.

Any comprehensive definition of socialism shows that this term represents any one of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and control of the means of production and distribution of goods, while simultaneously diminishing private property rights and human liberty. In addition, as I have noted previously, socialism and progressive thought led to the massive mistreatment of those who were seen as socially unfit, defective, or otherwise unwanted, a view that was recently exposed by the events in New York and Virginia, which confirm that abortion rights advocates, whether they wear blackface or not, have now overreached as part of their capitulation to the radical thinking embodied in the Dred Scott case. (In the 1857 decision, the U.S. Supreme court in a 7-2 decision held that Dred Scott and his wife Harriet were members of an inferior class and therefore were not considered human persons. This decision was a precursor to the civil war.)

While a precise definition of socialism eludes many if not most Americans, it is clear that one of the best ways to understand socialism is to talk to or listen to a socialist. At bottom, according to Bruce Price at the American Thinker, socialists are suggesting that Americans “are clearly not qualified to run their own lives.” If you actually think you are qualified to run your own life, socialists conclude that you are probably in the grip of dangerous beliefs that need to be discarded.  At the end of the day, socialists conclude that “you would be better off if you stayed out of the way and let experts manage your life.”

Today we can see the remarkable results of socialism and the attempt by experts to run other people’s lives in the ruins of the former Soviet Union and the state of Venezuela after Hugo Chavez took power and looted the country. As has been noted, “Blessed with the world’s largest oil reserves, this South American nation was once the region’s richest per capita. Twenty years after the launch of the late Hugo Chávez’s Bolivarian Revolution, it is now one of the poorest.”

Now, proponents of the Green New Deal insist that automobile and air travel be curtailed and all homes be gutted or retrofitted and that many Americans must lose their jobs in order to possibly change the world’s climate a minute amount at some distant point in the future. Since these policies would send American jobs and wealth abroad without significantly changing the world’s climate, by all means let’s have a debate.  If political leftists have the courage of their convictions, after the debate, the American people should demand that they stand up and vote so we can hold them accountable for their convictions and their policies designed to turn our lives over to the rule of experts. 

In response to the launch of the Green New Deal—a plan that is not technologically feasible but which is supported by a large cohort of politicians on the political Left, the ACLJ pledges the following five responses:

1. First, the ACLJ will continue to expose and explain the socialist nature of the Green New Deal resolution;
2. Second, the ACLJ will prepare substantive legal analysis of legislative proposals stemming from this resolution or any similar radical ideas, plans, legislation, and initiatives;
3. Third, the ACLJ will engage in an affirmative effort to show how the GND and other socialist policy proposals would subvert the rule of law and call into question the viability of our constitutional republic;
4. Fourth, the ACLJ will launch an active effort to oppose any legislative attempt to implement these socialist ideas in either a comprehensive or piecemeal fashion including launching petition drives to alert Congress and the American people of the dangers embedded in such efforts;
5. Fifth, the ACLJ will encourage Congress to debate and vote on the merits of the GND, so that the American people can hold the radical political Left accountable for supporting policies that would harm middle and working-class Americans who believe they are indeed qualified to run their own lives without the coercive assistance of experts.

At the end of day, we must hold politicians accountable. And the ACLJ stands ready, willing, and able to defend the Constitution from these radical attacks. Join with us in our fight to protect the rule of law and end this growing threat to our constitutional democracy.