Van Jones recently spoke at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, PA.  His speech and the audience's reaction demonstrated just how easily deceived intelligent and well educated people can be. 

The well dressed college professors and not so well dressed college students came into the lecture believing the fallacy that green jobs will solve America's unemployment problem and Van Jones gleefully reinforced that lie.

Mr. Jones is an entertaining and articulate speaker.  However, he is also a committed Communist that was fired from his post in the Obama administration for his membership in various Communist groups and public statement that the 9/11 terrorist attacks were caused or even orchestrated by the United States.  Since 2005, the hatefulness of his Communist and Black Panther rhetoric has been toned down, obviously learning from others on the far left, that one must appear moderate to rise to power and ultimately impose radical communist views upon America. 

His Bio did talk about helping to steer 80 billion dollars of taxpayer money toward green energy companies in the Stimulus Bill, but neglected to mention how many of those companies have filed for bankruptcy.  Everyone, even those that listen to MSNBC, has heard of Solyndra, but at last count sixteen (16) more green energy companies that Van Jones and the Obama administration funneled taxpayer money to filed for bankruptcy.

America is not the first country to use taxpayer funds to subsidize green energy companies.  European countries have done this for nearly a decade.  However, those countries are now abandoning their unsustainable green energy policies.  In Spain, they found out that despite massive taxpayer subsidies, green energy programs destroyed 2 jobs for every 1 they created.

The difference in America is that environmentalists were able to deceive unions into believing that taxpayer subsidized green energy programs would create union jobs.  Unions, who are desperate for new members, took the bait and agreed to use their massive fundraising abilities to help support policies like Cap and Trade that environmentalists wanted to impose upon the American economy and the American people.  What Van Jones and others on the far left neglected to mention in their speeches on green energy and social justice is that higher energy prices hurt lower income and minority Americans the most.  Lower income families simply spend a greater portion of their budget on energy.

Van Jones did make one truthful statement; today's generation has the opportunity to change the world.  The question is will they continue to embrace the false promise of Communism that their professors and guest speakers like Van Jones deliver, or will they embrace the ideas of free enterprise and limited government that have created 236 years of prosperity in America.

Without the prosperity and well paying jobs that limited government and free enterprise create, it will be very difficult for today's students to pay off the loans for the $56,000 annual cost of attending F & M.  Of course, they could join the next Occupy encampment and blame society for their failure to find a job and demand their college loan debts be forgiven.

David Nace

naceda@wickershamconstruction.com