Patria rejects carbon tax as Congress adjourns

The First Session of the Fifty First Congress (1·LI 2018-19) adjourned for the [northern hemisphere] summer recess after protracted burn-the-midnight-oil debate on whether Patria should adopt a carbon tax. In the end, the tax was rejected thanks to heavy lobbying by the SRM and its conservative allies. Nonetheless, Patria remains committed to a made-in-Patria version of the Green New Deal.

As traditional, before the Speaker of the House whacked the gavel on the dais and the Sergeant-at-Arms blew the vuvuzela to declare the session closed, the Annual Message to Congress was delivered, as follows:

Sarvamangalya mangalye shive sarvartha sadhike, sharanye tryambake Gauri, Narayani namostute. With the Divine Mother’s blessings and at the lotus feet of both Amma Sri Karunamayi and Amma Amritanandamayi, the Fifty-first Congress has come to the end of its first year in office.

In keeping with Patria’s traditions and congressional protocol, the last act of the First Session took place just moments ago – the ratification of Patria’s fiscal 2020 budget. As a partial sop to the SRM and economic conservatives, and in order to keep the price of fuel affordable, particularly for anyone who prefers to drive rather than use public transit, this budget does not include a carbon tax. Such a tax, that would have added at least 12 Patrienish Rupees to the price of a litre of petrol but likely would do little – beyond a symbolic or virtue-signalling value – to protect the environment and would only force those in Patria who can least afford it – seniors, low-wage earners, families struggling to make ends meet, and small mom-and-pop businesses – to pay for the over-consumption of the US and other First World macro-powers, was voted down in this House albeit by a slim margin. Nonetheless, in order to encourage use of public transit, the budget includes increased funding for Castoropolis Transit and local transit authorities to purchase new vehicles, expand service and upgrade transit infrastructure.

  

Rather than impose another tax on those who can least afford it, this Congress believes that a better way to address climate change and help clean up the pollution caused by our addiction to fossil fuels is “make the polluters pay”. The costs of environmental remediation must be paid by the Big Oil plutocrats and the CEOs of amoral transnational corporations who have a far greater responsibility for runaway pollution and greenhouse gas emissions than single mothers or small businesses.

Carbon tax or no, Patria supports a peaceful, healthy planet and a made-in-Patria version of the Green New Deal that will move the economy away from dependence on fossil fuels and non-renewable energy. Since 2016, Patria has supported MAPS. In memory of Darcy Belanger – one of the leading movers of the Marine Arctic Peace Sanctuary treaty, who lost his life in the Ethiopian Airlines B-737 Max crash in March of this year – Patria will redouble its commitment to MAPS. This treaty will keep military activity and commercial exploitation out of the Arctic Ocean waters and it is Patria’s hope that through Parvati and her team of dedicated devotees of Amma, more real-world macro-national governments will sign on to MAPS.

  

Along with Canada, Patria will pursue a ban on single-use plastic products such as straws, cutlery and shopping bags. These products are rarely recycled or re-used and while they may be easier and cheaper in the short term, they have long-term consequences for the environment. They already have been banned in a number of Patria’s cities and precincts. In 2020, this Congress will enact a Patria-wide ban. Be prepared now: if you drink from a straw, get a metal one. Bring your own cloth bag to the supermarket. Serve your family picnic or barbecue with real forks, not plastic ones. Friends of Patria, keeping needless plastic waste out of landfills and oceans is not rocket science.

  

As the Fifty-first Congress moves into its second year, Patria remains both democratic socialist and politically incorrect. Yes, this is possible. Patria is committed to democratic socialist ideals such as a living wage, single-payer health care for all and low-cost post-secondary education or apprenticeship training. At the same time, Patria says NO to the Thought Police, Cultural Marxists, self-righteous high-horse Social Justice Warriors and others who seem to proliferate on the so-called “woke” left doing everything humanly possible to destroy Patria’s constitutionally protected rights of free speech, open debate, freedom of association and lawful assembly for the purpose of peaceful protest. In Patria, in the 51^st Congress, the dissident and populist left can find a home. It is a home that Bernie Sanders would recognize but one that may not be friendly to easily-offended overly-sensitive snowflakes. It is a home where there are no so-called safe spaces and trigger warnings on college campuses. It is a home where physical assault by gutless cowards is a crime but not hurt feelings caused by lawful citizens exercising their constitutional right of free speech. And it is a home where the violent masked thugs of Antifa are not welcome, no matter how much they claim to be on “our side” or to be “progressives”.

  

In the First Session, Patria had a simple four-word answer to all the tired old horses that left the barn years ago and all the failed policies of ages past that keep getting trotted out and can’t seem to die: “we have moved on”. To the social conservatives who have not stopped trying to re-criminalize abortion, keep women in their place at home, bring back “1950s family values” and re-make Patria into a micro version of Red-State America: “we have moved on”. To dishwater-dull middle-ground centrist neo-liberals who cling to the status quo or at best “incremental” change: “we have moved on”. And to all those tired canards and lame proposals, many of which are leftovers from the last century, that will keep being dragged out over the next three years of this Congress or in the 2022 election campaign particularly by National Unionists, such as raising the drinking age to 25 or imposing dress codes and curfews on kids: “we have moved on”.

  

As heard earlier today on AM 1152 PMBC, Patria congratulates the winner of Smack Off XXV: five-time Smack Off winner Brad in Corona. While the Jungle Party is only a small player in the 51^st Congress, Jim Rome’s credo rings loud and strong throughout Patria: Have a take, don’t suck!

  

Finally, Patria congratulates the Toronto Raptors. Earlier this month the Raptors became the first team based outside the United States to win the NBA championship, in six hard-fought games against the heavily-favored defending champion Golden State Warriors.

And so the time has come; let us make a pledge to meet in September. As is traditional, this session is adjourned with a brief prayer, and a moment of silent reflection for those who have lost their lives during the course of this session as a result of war, terrorist acts, hate crimes or other senseless violence from Pittsburgh to Poway, Christchurch to Colombo:

  

Lokah samasthah sukhino bhavantu. Asato ma sad gamaya. Tamaso ma jyotir gamaya. Mrityor ma amritam gamaya. Hari Om.  Shanti, Shanti, Shanti.

Under the power vested in me by the Constitution of Patria, I declare closed the First Session of the 51^st Congress, and call this Congress to re-assemble here on Monday, 16 September 2019, to open the Second Session of the 51^st Congress.

(the House adjourned at 11:55 PM local time)

On this last day of the congressional session, Patria Post released two new stamp issues, depicting both Ammas.