Sen. Markey’s Green Jobs Plan Is Only About His Job [OPINION]

Massachusetts Senator Edward Markey knows about jobs; at least he knows how to keep his own job as an elected official. Will young Democrats be fooled by him?

I have nothing against Edward Markey personally. In fact, I have always respected him for serving in the military during the Vietnam War. Unlike others in politics today, he didn't get a rich kid deferment and he hasn't pretended he was in combat. He served honorably in the Army Reserves at a time when some reserve units did get sent to Vietnam, including a unit from New Bedford.

While he wasn't shipped overseas to war in the past, today there might be a war being brought home to him: a war for his seat in the United States Senate. For a man who has spent his entire life in elected office, losing this war means losing his very existence.

The only threat to his re-election in 2020 is from a Democrat challenger in the primary election. The same kind of Democratic Party primary that saw Massachusetts Congressman Michael Capuano lose to Ayanna Pressley and New York Congressman Joe Crowley lose to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in 2018. Ed Markey is an old white man in a party that doesn't particularly like old white men in power anymore.

Markey was born in 1946 and first elected to the Massachusetts State Legislature in 1972. He was elected to Congress through a special election in the spring of 1976. He served in the House of Representatives for 37 years. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in a special election in 2013.

Sen. Markey has served in elected office during the tenure of nine different U.S. presidents, from Nixon to Trump. Today, five of those presidents are dead.

Markey knows how to stay in elected office and he knows he has to co-opt the radical democratic socialists who are taking over the Democratic Party if he is going to celebrate his 80th birthday as a member of the Senate.

Markey knows enough about the legislative process and the federal budget to know that the "Green New Deal" is never going to work. He knows it is just a dream of childlike fools who have found a champion in Rep. Ocasio-Cortez. But he knows their dream can become his nightmare. When this dream gets buried by sober Democrats in the House, the socialist mob will come looking for scalps.

Ed Markey has been working as a progressive Democrat on environmental issues for decades, but he knows that won't matter to the mob if he is on the wrong side of this resolution. So a few weeks ago he met with AOC for the first time, and now they are ready to reshape the entire economy of America.

Markey is talking about all the jobs that can be created with this "Green New Deal," but he is only concerned with keeping his job in the Senate.

Chris McCarthy is the host of The Chris McCarthy Show on 1420 WBSM New Bedford. He can be heard weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon. Contact him at chris.mccarthy@townsquaremedia.com and follow him on Twitter @Chris_topher_Mc. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.