Green may become the most powerful piece of political propaganda the world has ever known. Using this potent symbol, the various socialist, environmental and earth first extremists are poised to do what seventy years of world communism could not; destroy property, free market capitalism and with these personal liberty.
If you think me wrong, just listen for twenty minutes to any of the news networks, Green is the headline day after day after day. Green is a perfect icon; there is in it nothing at all objectionable. Green evokes powerful images of peace and tranquility that are almost universal. The 23rd Psalm invokes “green pastures” as a heaven like place of rest. The beauty of the forests and green hills is undeniably moving.
The real power of the Green brand however lay in its appeal to suburbanites, particularly women. Home is the center of the family and whatever the architecture of one’s house, the color of home is green. Ivy covered walls, the lawn and garden stir up feelings of pride, harmony and security. When a suburban homeowner is offered a policy promoting more green space or woodlands or protecting the rain forest she has an immediately favorable reaction. Perception of any threat to the green environment becomes a threat to home and hearth resulting in stiff and often fanatical opposition.
The environmental movement has never, until now, been able to fully integrate this large, wealthy, and mostly conservative demographic. Today, through the charm of Green, that critical job has been accomplished. This massive voting bloc if added to the existing left leaning coalition of interest groups could give the socialist-environmentalist collective hegemony in American politics for some time to come. The tragic irony of this development is that the suburban lifestyle is a primary target for Green inspired elimination.