Green New Deal (E3)
In this episode, Front Running looks at the jobs program called the Green New Deal, most associated at the moment with Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez but which has been formulated for quite some years with the ambition to provide an FDR-like jobs program to put Americans to work rebuilding its infrastructure for a post-carbon world.
Two guests join Front Running to discuss the Green New Deal; James (Jim) Howard Kunstler, author of “The Geography of Nowhere” and “The Long Emergency,” and Randy Voller, former mayor of Pittsboro, North Carolina, as well as the former chair of the Democratic Party of North Carolina.
Together they look at the ability of the Green New Deal to be a jobs program of the magnitude that could restore US infrastructure and manufacturing capacity. Kunstler believes that it is a ‘when-you-wish-upon-a-star’ program filled with ‘wishful thinking’ because we can’t keep our fantasy land of suburbia, Walt Disney World, and the US military afloat on alternative energy as these all need an underlying platform built on oil, gas, and coal. Voller has more hope that the Green New Deal can succeed and programs can be implemented locally and immediately for genuine benefit.