America’s most pressing crisis is the death of the middle-income working class, and the willingness of the coastal elite to push policies responsible for much for the devastation.
The economy isn’t working for a lot of ordinary, working class Americans, and it’s part of the reason President Trump was elected. Tucker Carlson has delved into it both on television and in his book Ship of Fools. “I would say that almost all of our political volatility stems from economic causes,” Carlson said in an interview. “The economy doesn’t work for most people. What’s going on is a small group of people is getting richer than anyone else has in human history and everyone else is languishing.”
That assessment is spot-on and is evidenced by the policies ruthlessly shoved down the throats of middle-class America. The mega-rich grow wealthier while regular, working-class Americans are left behind and denied the very opportunities that propelled these business magnates to the top.
From Tom Steyer — the billionaire hedge fund investor who pocketed millions from investments in fossil fuels — to former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the uber-rich have convinced themselves that mankind will perish if the world does not stop using oil and natural gas as a form of energy.
Take Tim Cook of Apple as an example. Apple’s meteoric rise, past and present, has occurred in an era of unprecedented economic growth, all of it underwritten by an increasingly complex global logistical network dependent on fossil fuel use. However, after reaching these lofty heights, Apple has attacked fossil fuel under the pretense of fighting climate change.
“100% renewable energy for 100% of our facilities,” Apple’s website sanctimoniously touts, chastising the United States for pulling out of the Paris Climate Agreement and claiming partnerships with suppliers aimed at dramatically reducing emissions. Similarly, Google’s website states that the company has been “carbon neutral for over a decade.
While globalist elites such as those at Google and Apple have amassed billions utilizing suppliers and partners in countries like China with some of the worst air pollution rates on Earth, these individuals want to deny workers the same opportunity to get ahead by criminalizing the very fossil fuel industries that propelled them to success.
In one example of this appalling double-standard, far-left environmental activists aligned with the globalist ruling class have routinely sabotaged and attacked the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, a 600-mile natural gas pipeline spanning North Carolina, West Virginia, and Virginia.
Projected to provide $377 million in energy cost savings, almost 20,000 jobs in industries like manufacturing and construction, and $28 million per year in tax revenue for local government, the Atlantic Coast Pipeline would not only improve America’s domestic power network, but give struggling working-class communities a chance to pull themselves up by their bootstraps.
While the project has enormous transformative potential for many American workers and families, the project was suspended indefinitely on Dec. 7, pending further legal action after a series of protests by environmental activists.
In effect, the ruling political elite has scaled the economic ladder, then immediately yanked it above arm’s reach for the majority of Americans. Cases like that of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline illustrate the gravity of the problem.
Looking at the massive, destructive protests happening in France over President Emmanuel Macron’s fuel tax, one question begs to be answered. Will America’s ruling elite heed the warning signals before a similar revolution takes hold in the U.S.?
Megan Barth, is co-chair of RedWave America PAC and founder of Reagan Babe, a political news and commentary website.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of The Daily Caller.