“Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.”
— H.L. Mencken
Since 2016 and the first Trump election, many on the left wore “resistance” like a merit badge. It was on yard signs, coffee mugs and cable news graphics.
Yet, after the results of the midterms, that brand has a problem. The “resistance” is headed to Washington.
Line up the energy records of the new class and a pattern jumps off the page. Net-zero deadlines imposed by executive order. Pipelines voted down. Oil and gas dismissed as a relic. Hundreds of billions in taxpayer money steered toward the climate movement.
These are the people that will now write the bills and set the hearing schedule. And they’re all in on the Green Agenda…depending on when you asked.
Check the Résumé vs. Their Recent Rhetoric
- Michigan’s Abdul El-Sayed said “We need 100% renewable energy, and we need it yesterday.”
- Texas’ James Talarico once compared leading in oil and gas to “being the leader in cassette tapes in the 1980s”.
- North Carolina’s Roy Cooper signed an executive order demanding net-zero emissions by 2050 and 1.25 million zero-emission vehicles on state roads by 2030.
- Ohio’s Sherrod Brown voted against Keystone XL…twice.
- Kansas’ Adam Hamilton, a megachurch pastor, preached a 2020 sermon calling for repentance over climate change and suggesting his flock rethink foods “like cattle.”
- Maine’s Troy Jackson helped pass the state’s climate laws and sat down for a Q&A with a group pushing public ownership of Maine’s energy system.
That’s not a list of politicians auditioning for the moderate wing. They’re angling for a keynote at the next Sunrise Movement rally.
From Green New Deal to “All of the Above”
Then the campaigns started, and the positions changed. Correction: the stated position changed.
El-Sayed not only deleted his 2019 post “I believe in a Green New Deal,” he flip-flopped and said, “Look, I’m not going to defend the Green New Deal.”
In 2022, Talarico said, “Fossil fuels are destroying the planet.” By September, his campaign was assuring Texans he “knows how essential oil and gas is to Texas’s economy” and backs an “all-of-the-above” strategy. Talarico now says, “too many people in our party talk about eliminating oil and gas.”
South Carolina’s Annie Andrews ran with the League of Conservation Voters’ endorsement calling her “committed to bold climate action.” A week before the election, she said, “I’m an all-of-the-above approach.”
And Hamilton, the pastor who preached repentance over beef, campaigned on “all of the above energy production.”
A campaign slogan costs nothing. A Senate vote goes on the permanent record, and the American public pays the bill
Starting in January, these senators will vote on permits, pipelines, power plant rules and tax credits. Every roll call will show which version showed up for work: the candidate who sounded like a wildcatter in October, or the activist who was there all along.
Nobody Voted for The Green New Deal
The exit polls back that up. In NBC’s exit poll, the economy was the top issue at 39%, followed by the state of democracy and immigration. Climate didn’t make the top three.
The election isn’t a permission slip for green mandates that taxpayers will be paying off long after this Congress is gone. After all, North Carolina knows how that goes.
Under Governor Roy Cooper, state and local governments pledged more than $1.2 billion in incentives for a electric vehicle plant. The 7,500 promised jobs shrank to about 1,400 while the opening slid to 2028. Earlier this year, the state sued to take back the land. Lawmakers in both parties signed off, but taxpayers are the ones left holding an empty lot.
The Shoe Is on the Other Foot
For years, Democrats described standing up to the people in charge was the highest form of patriotism.
Every time this caucus pushes a rule that raises a power bill, they should hear about it. Every time a pipeline permit stalls, the Kansas rancher and the Texas trucker deserve to know whose desk it’s sitting on.
China isn’t waiting on Senate hearings. It’s building coal plants faster than any nation on earth, and every kilowatt America refuses to make is one Beijing is glad to supply.
Voters gave the keys to the Senate, not a blank check for the Green New Deal.
For years, these former outsiders spent all their time “resisting.” Now, they will get to see how they like being resisted.
This article originally appeared at Real Clear Energy
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The post The Green new caucus goes to Washington was first published by the Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT), and is republished here with permission. Please support their efforts.