A protest group made up of hundreds of students crowded into a Capitol Hill office building and took over Nancy Pelosi’s office today. Roll Call reports more than 140 people were arrested including 61 near Pelosi’s office:

U.S. Capitol Police on Monday arrested roughly 143 activists, including 61 outside the office of the likely next speaker, California Rep. Nancy Pelosi. The mostly high school- and college-aged protesters demonstrated in or outside nearly 50 congressional offices to urge lawmakers to confront man-made climate change.

The protests were organized by the Sunrise Movement, a group that aims to promote policy action to address climate change and rid political campaign coffers of money from the fossil fuel industry…

In recent weeks, Ocasio-Cortez has prioritized the establishment of a new Select Committee for a Green New Deal with the goal of “meeting 100 percent of national power demand through renewable sources” in the next decade.

The protest started in the hallway outside Pelosi’s office.

BREAKING: a deployed 40 foot banner outside of @TeamPelosi’s office unfurls as police announce over megaphones that “this is an illegal demonstration.”

Where are our leaders? Right here. #GreenNewDeal pic.twitter.com/Z3HtwU0T44

— Sunrise Movement 🌅 (@sunrisemvmt) December 10, 2018

As you can see in this clip, it really was a large number of protesters:

Today, on #HumanRightsDay, we join 1000 young people from across the country w/ @sunrisemvmt to hold our leaders accountable. #NoExcuses to #ActOnClimate, esp. when we can create millions of jobs in the process.

We need a #GreenNewDeal!

✊🏾✊🏼✊🏿✊🏻✊🏽 pic.twitter.com/X0UP1JA1OZ

— Hip Hop Caucus 🏁 (@HipHopCaucus) December 10, 2018

It may have started as a “silent protest” but it didn’t stay that way for long.

100s of high school and middle school students hold a silent mass protest outside of Rep. Pelosi's office while advocating for the "#GreenNewDeal." pic.twitter.com/GVXaIV4zkB

— NBC News (@NBCNews) December 10, 2018

At some point, they held a sit-in inside Nancy Pelosi’s office and began singing loudly.

Protesters at @NancyPelosi’s office demanding Democrats address climate change and a green new deal as part of taking the Majority next year – an effort @ocasio2018 pushing for. pic.twitter.com/M2ZajA9D2Q

— Alex Moe (@AlexNBCNews) December 10, 2018

The sit-in at Pelosi’s office seems unnecessary since she already agreed to their demands the last time protesters showed up with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Pelosi said this last month:

Deeply inspired by the young activists & advocates leading the way on confronting climate change. The climate crisis threatens the futures of communities nationwide, and I strongly support reinstating the select committee to address the crisis. https://t.co/rjVJYSJraf

— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) November 13, 2018

Today the students also took over Rep. Steny Hoyer’s office:

HOYERS: Dozens are now risking arrest in @WhipHoyer office until he supports a select committee for #GreenNewDeal pic.twitter.com/uEZbEjEnxl

— Sunrise Movement 🌅 (@sunrisemvmt) December 10, 2018

Here’s video from Hoyer’s office:

.@WhipHoyer 100s of young people are at your office. Will you commit to support a Select Committee in #GreenNewDeal whose side are you on? Step up or step aside. pic.twitter.com/L18RwFnkKn

— Sunrise Movement 🌅 (@sunrisemvmt) December 10, 2018

Hoyer attempted to mollify them on Twitter but it doesn’t seem to have worked:

Thank you @WhipHoyer. But we need you to do more than listen. To truly #ActOnClimate, we need you to take the #NoFossilFuelMoney pledge and support @Ocasio2018’s proposed Select Committee on a #GreenNewDeal by the end of the year.

We’re doing our job, will you do yours? https://t.co/FqcewzuPd3

— Sunrise Movement 🌅 (@sunrisemvmt) December 10, 2018

.@WhipHoyer we are at your office because we are sick and tired of empty promises of Dem leaders promising to "act on climate." We need an answer, now: Will you back a #GreenNewDeal? https://t.co/EX4jNt1kaa

— Sunrise Movement 🌅 (@sunrisemvmt) December 10, 2018

Eventually, police issued warnings that the demonstration was illegal.

HOYER’S OFFICE: Capitol Police have arrived and have given their first arrest warning. Young people won’t back down until @WhipHoyer supports a Select Committee on a #GreenNewDeal. #DoYourJob

Supporters, donate here: https://t.co/rNQRsnHaLe pic.twitter.com/JwAiafiKYU

— Sunrise Movement 🌅 (@sunrisemvmt) December 10, 2018

Police are warning young people making their voices heard with @sunrisemvmt for a #GreenNewDeal that they’ll soon be arrested for their sit-in at Pelosi’s office. pic.twitter.com/ZTtZ8hGzQp

— Waleed Shahid (@_waleedshahid) December 10, 2018

The protesters did feel they had one success today. Rep. Jim McGovern bowed to pressure and announced he was on board with the Green New Deal:

Thank you everyone at @sunrisemvmt @justicedems for making your voices heard & making #ClimateChange a top issue. We need real change. We need a select committee. We need a #GreenNewDeal. And we need to work together w/ all @HouseDemocrats Committees to make it work!

— Rep. Jim McGovern (@RepMcGovern) December 10, 2018

So what is the Green New Deal? As mentioned above, at this point it’s a call to create a Select Committee whose job would be to create a 10-year plan to end the use of fossil fuels in the United States. Here’s the text of the plan on Ocasio-Cortez website. And here’s a sample:

The Plan for a Green New Deal (and the draft legislation) shall be developed with the objective of reaching the following outcomes within the target window of 10 years from the start of execution of the Plan:

1. Dramatically expand existing renewable power sources and deploy new production capacity with the goal of meeting 100% of national power demand through renewable sources;
2. building a national, energy-efficient, “smart” grid;
3. upgrading every residential and industrial building for state-of-the-art energy efficiency, comfort and safety;
4. eliminating greenhouse gas emissions from the manufacturing, agricultural and other industries, including by investing in local-scale agriculture in communities across the country;
5. eliminating greenhouse gas emissions from, repairing and improving transportation and other infrastructure, and upgrading water infrastructure to ensure universal access to clean water;

But it’s not just moving to 100% green energy. It’s also a plan to transform the economy, one which will “provide all members of our society, across all regions and all communities, the opportunity, training and education to be a full and equal participant in the transition, including through a job guarantee program to assure a living wage job to every person who wants one.” Part of the goal will also be to “mitigate deeply entrenched racial, regional and gender-based inequalities in income and wealth.” And oh, by the way, we’re also going to have basic income and universal healthcare: “include additional measures such as basic income programs, universal health care programs and any others as the select committee may deem appropriate to promote economic security…”

As I wrote here, this is AOC’s plan to use climate change as a “vehicle” for transforming the United States into a Democratic Socialist state significantly to the left of Sweden. Is this likely to happen? Then answer is probably not because, for one thing, the cost of the programs she’s proposing far exceeds what Americans are willing to pay. Ocasio-Cortez has mostly given up on trying to explain where the money would come from. Instead, she frames everything as a moral necessity which apparently means we don’t have to discuss the bill.

Last month Vox wrote about all of this and merely described her plans as being as “ambitious” as anyone could imagine. That’s the real danger of socialist ideas. Many people who know better entertain them because it’s easier than explaining to a bunch of enthusiastic high school students that the socialist utopia they are daydreaming about just isn’t possible. Many of these proposals have never worked anywhere and we’re not about to adopt all of them here en masse. But in the short term, it certainly seems as if many of the leaders of the Democratic Party are taking the easy way out and climbing aboard the socialist train with Ocasio-Cortez.