The Green New Deal, Israel, and Mayor Pete

Source: The Unz Review

Stephen J. Sniegoski • May 11, 2019 • 75 Comments

On March 21, 2019, former governor of Pennsylvania and a past Democratic National Committee chairman Ed Rendell stated: "I think all of a sudden, the 2020 election went from a slam dunk for Democrats to something where we're going to have trouble beating this guy [Trump] because he's going to make Democratic socialism swing to the left, which I don't think is real, but he's going to make it into the issue."

Rendell was referring to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez with her Green New Deal, which won over the progressive branch of the Democratic Party, and made her a well-known figure in the party although she had never run for a political position before being elected to Congress this past November and is too young to run for president. The Green New Deal proposes to make the U.S. carbon free in ten years by relying on solar and wind power (nuclear energy and hydroelectric dams being taboo). Ocasio-Cortez contends that the failure to achieve this goal would lead to a climate Armageddon. And linked to the climate effort is a litany of other social measures: free health care for all, universal basic income, a federal jobs guarantee, free college, reparations to black Americans for slavery, and more.

Rendell realized that the 2020 election, instead of revolving around Trump with his low approval ratings, would turn on the questionable nostrums of the progressive Democrats, which critics could easily describe as destroying the economy and establishing socialism.

Adding more election trouble for the Democrats, many of these same progressive Democrats are critical of Israel, which has been a death knell for American politicians. Congressional Democrat Ilhan Omar, a Somali-American Muslim, criticized Israel as well as the Israel Lobby using taboo language that is considered anti-Semitic. "It's all about the Benjamins baby," she tweeted before the 2019 AIPAC conference, referring to AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) lobbyists as being involved in the funding of pro-Israel lawmakers (Benjamin Franklin’s image appears on US $100 bills. AIPAC does not actually fund American lawmakers directly, but rather tells its many members whom to aid.)

Although an effort was made in Congress to condemn Omar as anti-Semitic, which is usually career-ending, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi dared not to do this because of the progressive Democrats and their base and instead presented a resolution condemning anti-Semitism, anti-Muslim discrimination, and bigotry against minorities with no specific mention of Omar.

And a significant number of the progressive Democrat presidential candidates did not attend the AIPAC Policy Conference held in Washington, DC from March 24 to 26. Those not attending included Senators Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand, Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, former House of Representatives member Beto O'Rourke. The candidates' decisions to skip the powerful pro-Israel lobbying group’s conference came shortly after the liberal group MoveOn.org called upon all 2020 presidential candidates to avoid the event.

Now American Jews only make up a small percentage of the electorate, and it is doubtful that significant numbers would shift to voting for Trump despite his staunch support for Israel. However, about fifty percent of Democratic Party's funding comes from Jewish donors which is apt to be significantly reduced if the Democrat's presidential candidate is not staunchly pro-Israel, a factor that could militate against a Democratic victory.

Establishment Democrats fear that these extreme progressive positions could lead to a Trump victory, though they also likely fear a victory by a hardline progressive that would collapse the already bloated stock market and harm their interests. Currently there is an effort among them to stop Bernie Sanders, who is the leading progressive candidate by a wide margin in most polls.

Former Vice President Joe Biden who is first in most polls for the Democrats' presidential nominee is more moderate but has problems. If the general election were held today, Biden would very likely beat Trump, but by next year it might be difficult for him to win the Democratic nomination since he is out of step with much of the Democratic base. As an article in the progressive magazine Mother Jones observes, Biden's "decades-long record of public service has been punctuated by his ties to the banking industry, his treatment of Anita Hill, his civil rights–era opposition to busing, and other actions out of sync with today's Democratic Party."

Biden's inappropriate touching and kissing women in professional settings has been brought up recently by several women. His past campaigns for president, in 1988 and in 2008, were failures, and it is likely that his flaws as a candidate would come forth again, especially his tendency to make gaffes.

Please go to The Unz Review to read the entire article.

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