There are, as far as I can tell, two rationales for linking the green part of the GND with a semi-socialist agenda. One of them is romantic and ideological; the other is tactical. Both of them are wrong, for the following reasons:
- ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS ARE THE INEVITABLE RESULT OF CAPITALIST GREED: But high levels of pollution, historically, has been associated with early stages of industrial development, not a particular political or economic system. Air and water pollution levels in China a few years ago were reminiscent of what one would have seen in Pittsburgh or London in the 1940s. The Chinese are starting to fix those problems only now that they have become more prosperous. It is the higher levels of income that make effective environmental remedies possible. Those are easier to come by in a capitalist system.
- THE GND WILL CREATE LOSERS AS WELL AS WINNERS; IT IS POLITICALLY AND MORALLY NECESSARY TO PROMISE TO COMPENSATE THE LOSERS IN ORDER TO SELL THE PROGRAM TO THE ELECTORATE. Do you honestly believe that workers whose jobs are being threatened by the GND will accept the vague promise of a new job subsidized by the federal government in lieu of the status quo? And even if they did, will they always vote for their economic self-interest over their cultural values? I think not.