The 'Watermelon' Analogy is Real, and it is Dangerous

Free market advocates have often used the watermelon analogy--”green on the outside, red on the inside”--to describe the relationship between the Environmentalism movement and socialists. As the theory goes, socialism was supposed to bring prosperity to all while capitalism collapsed into a perpetual cycle of the rich getting richer while “the masses” got poorer. When the reality was that as the rich got richer, the general standard of living, even for the poor, soared, socialists faced a crisis. The crisis was deepened when it became clear that the poverty of the socialist countries was “achieved” by brutal, repressive tyrannies.

But they didn’t give up their socialist dreams. They came up with a new mantra to advance socialism--Environmentalism, originally called Ecology. The new playbook claimed that all of this capitalist prosperity was ruining the Earth. The original culprit was pollution, a very real problem. But rather than give up on capitalism, Americans cleaned up the pollution, but largely kept the capitalism. The prosperity and industrial progress continued on a progressively cleaner path. When the Soviet Union collapsed, the crisis reached its climax.

The socialists then turned to climate change, the ultimate environmental catastrophe. “It’s climate change” can be trotted out to explain every bad thing, from routine extreme weather, to corporate bankruptcies, to terrorism. In order to save the planet’s climate, draconian central planning--i.e., socialism--must be imposed on all economic activity..

There is plenty of evidence to back the watermelon analogy. The Environmentalism/socialism partnership is getting more open about their aims, with climate change emerging as the leader on the Environmentalist side.

For example, the latest United Nations IPCC climate assessment “Summary for Policymakers” called for “far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society” to reign in global warming. These drastic actions, the report states, could be folded into other political goals, such as “go hand in hand with ensuring a more sustainable and equitable society” and “efforts to eradicate poverty.”

In November, Reason’s Ronald Bailey reported in November 2018 on a New York Times op-ed by Benjamin Y. Fong titled The Climate Crisis? It's Capitalism, Stupid, in which Fong argued:

The real culprit of the climate crisis is not any particular form of consumption, production or regulation but rather the very way in which we globally produce, which is for profit rather than for sustainability. So long as this order is in place, the crisis will continue and, given its progressive nature, worsen. This is a hard fact to confront. But averting our eyes from a seemingly intractable problem does not make it any less a problem. It should be stated plainly: It's capitalism that is at fault.

Congresswoman and self-described Democratic Socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez chimed in about her “Green New Deal.” As Ronald Bailey reported in December 2018,

"This is going to be the New Deal, the Great Society, the moon shot, the civil rights movement of our generation," declaimed Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D–N.Y.) at a "Solving Our Climate Crisis" townhall this week. She was referring to the idea of a Green New Deal, which Mother Jones describes as "a complete realignment of the U.S. economy for a carbon-free future." Not wanting for ambition, Ocasio-Cortez added this goal: "We can use the transition to 100 percent renewable energy as the vehicle to establish economic, racial and social justice in America."

All italics are mine.

Terms like “a complete realignment of the U.S. economy” and “far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society” are the kinds of utopian dreams that totalitarian central planners have always salivated about. Terms like “economic, racial and social justice” are collectivist--i.e., socialist--terms. Real justice is individual, and it belongs to capitalism, the system of individual rights.

Indeed, Ocasio-Cortez recently called climate change "Our World War II," referring to the younger generation. Nick Gillespie pointed to the link to the IPCC report. O-C literally said the world would end by 2030 "if we don't address climate change. 2030 happens to be the IPCC's deadline date for its “far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society." Fits nicely with O-C's totalitarian socialist agenda.

There it is--the watermelon in action. The analogy is true. And it makes sense. After all, humans survive and flourish only by changing the environment. And what social system leaves people free to reshape the natural world to his benefit, if not capitalism, the system of freedom of production and trade? What government coercion aimed at crushing this freedom can not be justified by so vague a goal as “fighting climate change?”

'Climate Change' Ideology is a reformulation of anti-Capitalism; the perfect vehicle for aspiring totalitarian socialists. The watermelon analogy is real, and it is dangerous.

Related Reading:

New U.N. Study Shows Climate Catastrophists Getting More Open About their Totalitarian Designs

Destroy Capitalism to Save the Climate, Argues New York Times Op-Ed: Centrally planning the climate will work about as well as centrally planning economies did. by Ronald Bailey

Can the Democrats Really Win 2020 with a New Green Deal?--Ronald Bailey

The Green New Deal Is a Trojan Horse for Socialism--Jarrett Stepman

If there is one positive thing the Green New Deal does, it’s that it brings to light the fact that much of the environmentalist agenda is just a thinly veiled vehicle for implementing far-left socialism.