Consumers should come first in the GOP’s climate policies

Democrats’ big new idea is the Green New Deal. Coined by Tom Friedman in 2007, the term has reemerged courtesy of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the charismatic freshman congresswoman from the Bronx.

The exact composition of the Green New Deal is a matter of debate, after early descriptions of it appeared to in­clude calls for the eventual elimination of cows (a source of methane) and subsidies for those “unwilling” to work (why not). To judge from the congressional resolution introduced by Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Edward Markey (D., Mass.), the Green New Deal promulgated through official channels is hardly less ambitious. It would meet …