Ronald Reagan riding a velociraptor while firing a gun at his Soviet rivals. Luke Skywalker riding a Tauntauns on the ice planet Hoth. Aquaman emerging from the sea on the back of a giant seahorse.
Those were just some of the most striking visuals that Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) propped up on an easel stand during the session before the Senate's procedural vote on the Green New Deal, a plan to revamp the U.S. economy to eliminate carbon emissions introduced this year by freshman congresswoman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.). At first glance, it is clear that context is sorely needed.
When Lee had the floor he declared that he wasn't afraid of the Green New Deal like some of his colleagues. Instead, he said, he would consider the proposal with "the seriousness" it deserved, prompting his use of the wild images.
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Velociraptors, he said, had as little to do with ending the Cold War as the Green New Deal will have in stopping climate change.
Then the performance began. A deadpan Lee said that without the airplanes the deal mulls eventually banning, Alaskans will have to get around on "carbon-neutral" Tauntauns, a fictional "reptomammal" from the Star Wars universe. Hawaiians, meanwhile, will have to resort to crossing the Pacific Ocean on the backs of giant seahorses. Lee did admit what we're all thinking, however. "It would be really, really awesome," he said. Watch Lee's speech here starting from the 2:08:36 mark.
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