Will the Green New Deal Save Us From Fascism?

How hope and futurism defeat hate and fear

Two ‘Green New Deal’ posters by Tandem for the AOC campaign

During the Great Depression, widespread poverty, mass unemployment, and pervasive despair excited a growing movement of right-wing populism. Fascist currents within the West spearheaded power consolidations and rising scapegoating, making the social terrain of the 30s one of suffering-turned-hate. Yet the United States did not succumb to far-right authoritarianism as other countries did—and the critical mitigation lies in a moment in politics that turned fear and hate into hope and welfare.

Political scientists contend that FDR’s New Deal prevented a fascist America by offering solutions rooted in democracy and futurism, effectively reducing the appeal of extremism. The New Deal stabilized the economy, offered mass employment, established a social safety net, and strengthened public faith in American democracy.

Ultimately, the New Deal pulled the United States out of the Great Depression and established a democratic system committed to welfare and stability. While FDR did not achieve the economic bill of rights that we had laid out, he did successfully offer Americans an alternative to fascism, and his option won.

What we face today is a second major and global rise of fascism. President Donald Trump has, through his ICE secret police, pursued mass deportations and the establishment of concentration camps, where at least 46 people have died in custody. Since 2016, we have witnessed the Unite the Right rally, the January 6th Insurrection, a rise in white supremacist violence and organizing, and more — all indicating that during this time of mass distress and disinformation, people are turning to hate and fear as not only the coping mechanism of their problems, but also the solution to them.

Photo by Alex Eckermann on Unsplash

The contemporary United States is facing a twin crisis of inequality and climate change, and the political landscape is advancing disinformation and conspiracy theories about these issues. From eco-fascist contentions of overpopulation to antisemitic theories about hyperbolic Jewish power, we see the far-right capitalizing on concerns about economic and environmental conditions.

There is a solution to the current political terrain — one that embraces a messaging of hopeful futurism, democratic participation, and post-capitalism. The answer to not just our problems of climate crises and inequality, but also the alternative to the appeal of fascism, is the Green New Deal.

Like the New Deal that preceded it, the Green New Deal poses a threat to the movement from far-right autocracy. The program aims to aggregate progressive policies, such as universal healthcare and a job guarantee, with the challenge of climate breakdown. What we see is a way of coupling something abstract and polarizing, like climate change, with something immediately material and undeniable, like economic inequality.

When we articulate a vision of the future defined by welfare, democracy, cooperation, stability, and sustainability, we are directly attacking the fascist narrative that the only option forward is one of fear, anger, hate, and scapegoating. A better world is possible — a world beyond capitalism, global warming, and the appeal of far-right extremism.

As MAGA begins to turn on Trump, and 2028 grows closer, we must commit to a Green New Deal candidate, a genuine progressive, to lead the way forward and beyond the darkness of the current moment. People are hungry for change, for affordable healthcare and housing, for lower grocery prices, for more accessible education, for a solution to the growing climate crisis, and for a future to believe in — a future that benefits the people over profit. The Green New Deal is how we win that future.