Policies that are cynically good for the business of politics and bad for everyone else.
The political left’s playbook isn’t very big, but it is always amazing how boldly they run it and nobody is proud to re-run the same old plays more than New York’s Governor Cuomo.
If a football team only had two plays, they might wander onto the field sheepishly with the fear that everyone knew what to expect. But instead the left seems to showboat like a touchdown-scoring quarterback with their single-paged, albeit double-sided, playbook.
Play number one for the left isn’t much of a secret — attack your opponent’s credibility. An example of this play was Hillary Clinton’s recent “impromptu” airplane press conference where she insinuated Trump was corrupt — boldly ignoring her own decades of bad behavior. And she hasn’t stopped attacking her opponent over ethics, even as Wikileaks wizard Julian Assange threatens to release as much evidence of her corruption as he can.
Spoiler alert: he has a lot of material.
Play one is easy to spot, but play number two is the sneaky one. (I even bet they print on the back page of their one-page playbook.)
First, the left picks a policy area that they can reduce to the simplest terms and foment populist support around. Second, they funnel public money toward their friends and crony supporters. Third, they exacerbate the problems of the populace, so that the next time their plan will be even easier. Fourth, profit.
…snip…
A newer example is something happening in New York. Gov. Andrew Cuomo is attempting to adeptly usher through play number two, all while strutting like only a Democrat who thinks he’s about to spike a ball in the end zone.
The left has done a good job at creating consistent populist outcry regarding the environment. The Earth is constantly in peril, whether it’s from climate change, global warming, the greenhouse effect, the hole in the ozone layer, or (and they hate when we bring this up) global cooling.
Now Cuomo is using this as his pivot point. On August 1 the New York Public Service Commission (PSC), a board appointed by Cuomo, approved a Clean Energy Standard (CES). The standard mandates that New York gets 50% of its energy from carbon-neutral sources by 2030. Step number one complete.
However, the PSC didn’t stop there — that isn’t where the play ends. They still need to funnel money to their friends and make it easier next time.
So, the Commission included a “Zero Emission Credit.” Great title, but it is merely a payout to the Nuclear Power plants — a non-renewable energy — to the tune of $7 billion. Step number two complete. Step number three is that the money for those billions has to come from somewhere, and it will end up coming from everyday New Yorkers for the next 12 years. For a “progressive” Governor this is about as regressive a policy he could support. Step three complete.
