The Senate voted on the widely panned Green New Deal (GND) Tuesday, and it went down in spectacular flames, 0-57. All but three Democrats refused to vote either yes or no, instead courageously standing up for our planet by voting “present.” Last month, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell noted that there was “great interest in the Green New Deal.” Therefore, he said with a wry smile, “We’re going to be voting on that in the Senate. Give everybody an opportunity to go on record and see how they feel about the Green New Deal.”

The GND, the $93 trillion socialist brainchild of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), has received vocal support from nearly every Democrat presidential candidate, even as many leading economists warn how tremendously damaging the legislation would be for the U.S. economy should it become law. In fact, the GND is so bad that even Big Labor, the AFL-CIO, blasted the boondoggle because it “could cause immediate harm to millions of our members and their families.” Unions “will not stand by and allow threats to our members’ jobs and their families’ standard of living go unanswered.”

Humorously, AOC is angry that the Senate voted on her GND. Clearly, her outrage is not because she’s seen the error of her ways. Rather it’s because she knew it had no chance of passing the Senate. “The GOP’s whole game of wasting votes in Congress to target others ‘on the record’, for [legislation] they have no intent to pass, is a disgrace,” she carped. AOC further alleged that McConnell “doesn’t want to save our planet.” Evidently, not a single Senate Democrat wants to “save our planet,” either. Worse, AOC insisted, McConnell “thinks we can drink oil in 30 years when all our water is poisoned.” Could we get a fact-checker on the line?

Ironically, the GND’s primary Senate sponsor, Ed Markey (D-MA), is likewise incensed. “Don’t let Mitch McConnell fool you,” he groused last month. “This is nothing but an attempt to sabotage the movement we are building. He wants to silence your voice.” By letting you vote on your idea? After the vote, Markey asserted that Republicans “fail to understand” the Green New Deal “is not just a resolution. It is a revolution.” That’s exactly what conservatives oppose.

The whole reason members propose legislation is in the hopes that it will be voted on — so it’s either passed or can be a record to show constituents how the member voted and why. AOC and Markey both know the GND simply won’t fly with the vast majority of Americans because, for all intents and purposes, it would turn the U.S. into Venezuela.

But let’s just say for a moment that these ecofascists actually believe climate change is primarily or entirely caused by mankind, and that unless massive changes take place the earth is doomed in 12 years. Would they not want as many senators and representatives “on the record” as possible so they could then share that with the American people? As McConnell put it, “Do you believe it’s a prescription for America? Then why would you not want to vote for it?”

The truth is AOC and Markey no more believe the earth is doomed in 12 years than do any of the Democrat presidential candidates. It isn’t about saving the planet; it’s about softening the beaches for the ideology of socialism, and McConnell just called their bluff.