Democratic 2020 presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke delivered remarks at the University of Virginia campus on Tuesday in which he hailed the Green New Deal for calling for the kind of sacrifice not seen since World War II to fight the greatest enemy to humanity: climate change.
Several candidates in the Democratic field have already endorsed the sweeping plan that would transform the nation into a clean energy powerhouse and provide millions of Americans with jobs and healthcare.
The former Texas congressman has also endorsed it, and he made his support of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (D-N.Y.) plan even more clear during a stop to address college students in Virginia.
“One of the reasons that I like Representative Ocasio-Cortez’s proposed Green New Deal is that it calls to mind another time in this country’s past when we faced an existential challenge,” Beto began.
“In that case it was to our way of life, to the Western democracies, to our allies in Europe, to our fellow Americans,” he continued. “In the midst of the Great Depression, this country was willing to sacrifice, men and women, all over the United States to make sure that we defeated Germany, that we won that war, and for the following 75 years that we made this world safe for democracy.”
“The Green New Deal calls for that sacrifice and service and scale, scale of commitment to mind when it talks about the challenges that we face today,” Beto concluded.
Here’s the video via Twitter.
Democrat presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke: Green New Deal will spur “sacrifice” on the “scale” of U.S. during WWII pic.twitter.com/28QaPg5Mei
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) April 17, 2019
Of course, whereas Americans sacrificed their lives for our country during World War II, the Green New Deal is only asking us to revolutionize our energy and transportation sectors of the economy in order to fight climate change. It’s now or never to put this plan into action before it’s too late to save ourselves from the catastrophic consequences of climate change and if we are going to do it, we’re all going to have to come together for the common good like we did during World War II. Think of climate change as just another Nazi we need to defeat before it annihilates us.
Featured Image: Screenshot
