In March 2019, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) proposed a resolution in the House of Representatives and the Senate respectively, the likes of which hasn’t been seen since the Great Depression. The aim? To address both climate change and economic inequality.
This resolution, dubbed the Green New Deal (GND), harkens back to the Roosevelt era. FDR’s own New Deal is credited for bringing the United States out of the Great Depression and restoring economic stability. How? By providing jobs and improving infrastructure across the country. Rep. Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Markey propose something similar.
Ocasio-Cortez and Markey are self-declared Democratic Socialists. Any American who lived through the McCarthy era, or studied it in history class, probably has their own definition of the word socialism. Many picture Stalin or Mao, a hammer and sickle, or brutalist architecture—but Democratic Socialism, the umbrella under which the ecosocialist Green New Deal lives, is far from that.
What is Democratic Socialism?
The official Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), support the idea that the economy and governing bodies should be run, well, democratically. Radical, right?
According to the Democratic Socialists of America, our current system of government, once heralded as the model for representative democracy around the world, is failing. Because rather than equitably addressing the needs of the American people, it favors the desires of large corporations that buy control of the government.
Countries such as the United Kingdom, Germany, and Canada incorporate tenets of Democratic Socialism into their societies. These approaches include socialized medicine, paid paternal leave, and a livable minimum wage. However, in the United States, the government and many of the people consider these policies “too progressive” and harmful for the free-market. Many are convinced that equitable access to health care and a livable minimum wage will disincentivize economic growth, rather than guarentee people their rights.
Doesn’t socialism mean that the government will control everything?
Certainly not. Democratic Socialists don’t believe in upending the governmental system or giving total control of every aspect of life to the government. Instead of bailing out corporate conglomerates and providing subsidies for fossil fuel companies, Democratic Socialists want to represent the will of the people. Currently, powerful conglomerates have a greater say in the American government than the electorate. What if this money went to investing in greener American jobs and infrastructure?
Under the GND, investment in industry doesn’t end, it’s simply redistributed more equitably. Corrupt politicians and those at the top benefiting from the current system paint these policies in poor lighting, their pockets stuffed with oily bills. If Congress implements a Green New Deal, there won’t be room in Washington for oil profiteering. Rather, companies that demonstrate a desire to become sustainable receive greater funding for such purposes. Low-income communities see investment in their futures, propelled by job creation to rebuild failing infrastructure in more sustainable ways. Rather than “control everything,” the government can restructure its approach to environmental justice and policy to actually hear the will of the people and not just those at the top.
What does this have to do with the Green New Deal?
The Green New Deal can catalyze a transition towards a more equitable future. Creating jobs in struggling communities, providing livable wages, and encouraging workers to organize to protect their jobs, a Green New Deal is the first step towards incorporating aspects of democratic ecosocialism in the United States.
In the coming decades, the climate crisis will only get worse. The path we’re on isn’t a sustainable one. An investment now in a more equitable society and eco-friendly infrastructure that will survive the changing climate can only prepare all Americans, not just the wealthiest, for this uncertain future.