Why is General Motors – which only sells one electric car – pushing for a national electric car mandate? Honda and several others, too.
It is not unlike a steak house lobbying for a national vegan menu requirement.
One wonders . . . why?
In the words of Jules from Pulp Fiction, allow me to elucidate.
The federal government has already de facto outlawed non-electric cars, using a kind of slow-acting poison that is already causing symptoms to appear and will shortly fell even the healthiest-seeming non-electric vehicles (big trucks and SUVs).
That poison is the federal fuel economy fatwa known as CAFE, which has been around since the ‘70s but is on schedule to almost double and within about five years. By model year 2025, vehicles – not just cars – will have to average 50-plus MPG.
This includes trucks and SUVs based on trucks – which GM does sell a lot of.
How do you get a truck or an SUV based on a truck to average 50-plus MPG?
You don’t.
What you do instead is improve your CAFE “fleet average” by folding cars that get infinite MPGs (even though they don’t get many miles down the road) into the equation.
Electric cars. 
One EV plus one SUV that averages say 20 MPG equals a lot better than 20 MPG. The more EVs you sell – or rather, give away at a net loss – the more SUVs and trucks you can still actually sell. Which GM – and the others selling them – need to sell, because that’s where the money is.
The problem, though, is that electric cars aren’t selling.
This shouldn’t be any more perplexing than being baffled by diners at a steak house failing to order the soy turkey burger with quinoa from the Vegan menu. Especially when the turkey burger costs twice what the ribeye does.
The government – via CAFE – nudged Americans out of big sedans with big V8s and into big SUVs and trucks with V8s because lots of Americans didn’t want to be nudged into smaller, front-drive cars. The big trucks and SUVs were for a time not affected as abusively by the CAFE regs and so the car companies began to build lots of them to meet the diverted market demand for large, powerful vehicles.
CAFE now applies to all vehicles – including trucks and SUVs. Uncle closed the truck/SUV “loophole,” as it styles anything which enables people to avoid Uncle’s nudging, which is always done at bayonet-point.
Uncle never suggests.
Anyhow, trucks and SUVs and other larger/stronger vehicles continue to sell – or rather, they’re the types of vehicles which can be sold at a profit, without mandates or subsidies.
Unlike electric cars.
But – given a looming 50-plus MPG CAFE mandate – it is extremely necessary to “sell” EVs, in order to be able to actually sell anything else without incurring colossal “gas guzzler” fines – which is the penalty imposed for not meeting the CAFE mandatory minimums.
There is also this new business of treating carbon dioxide as an exhaust emission and the fear (cue Dr. Strangelove voice) of combustion-engine No Go zones being decreed here as they are already being decreed in Europe.
Only “zero emissions” EVs qualify – even though they aren’t “zero emissions” any more than your house is, assuming it has an electrical hook-up. The electrically powered appliances in your house may not “emit” anything inside or even outside of your house, but how about down the road? The electricity generating plant which makes the electricity that gets piped to your house certainly does “emit.” This includes carbon dioxide. A utility plant has a “carbon footprint” larger than probably 100,000 gas-engined SUVs, but never mind.
Not that there’s anything wrong with this “emitting.” Or rather, harmful about it. This fretting about carbon dioxide is the hobgoblin of illiterates and neurotics and what Lenin once called useful idiots. The same people would be equally alarmed by dark reports about the threat posed by dihydrogen monoxide . . . aka, water.
But never mind the false flag threats used to justify them; the fatwas are a fait accompli. Even if Uncle does not impose a 50-plus MPG fatwa nationally, California already has and that leaves GM, et al, in the position of either abandoning California’s market – as well as the market of the half-dozen other states that have enacted their own fatwas similar to California’s – or swallowing a huge loss building electric compliance cars and offloading them at fire-sale prices.
Their solution is to back a national EV mandate, which they hope will spread out their costs by offloading them onto the backs of buyers everywhere. And if every step mandates the production of a certain number of EVs each year, how long will it be before it mandates that people buy them?
None of this is, it is important to grok, is driven by natural market forces. There is no natural market for EVs. Government is creating one, for the purpose of increasing its control over the mobility of the masses. Most people will not be able to afford an EV – and even those who can will have their mobility limited by range and recharge times as well as access to recharging facilities (and power).
People without garages – and access to places to plug in – are going to find their mobility options stymied altogether.
It will also mean The End of the car business. GM may think it will be able to do business in an All EV Future. But what’s coming – and what GM and the other useful idiots are helping to come into being – is an East German-style regime in which the elites have their latter-day ZIS limos and huge SUVs, possibly electric – and the proletariat mostly ride-shares.
They may be smarter than I given them credit for, though. Perhaps there is more money to be made selling rides than cars.
I just wish they hadn’t sold us out.
. . .
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America has never really been free. [Taxation; military conscription; eminent domain; outright slavery….Heck, in Geo. Washington’s day you could be arrested for riding your horse on Sunday- George almost was!]
When did we fight communism and fascism? [We fought Germany to protect Russia, and after the war handed all of Eastern Europe over to the Soviets, subjecting millions to communism, etc.]
Libertarians believe that people should solve their own problems. [Which is a lot easier without government, ’cause government is the source of many of those problems, and usually hinders the efficient figting of them as well.]
Americnas use a lot of sleeping pills. [America should be put to sleep!]
Hi Nunz,
You’re quite right about America never having been truly free. But it was a lot more free, once – and while I will defend principle to the maximum I also try to be practical as well (a lesson I learned from Lenin) and not let the Perfect become the enemy of the Good.
I think a not-too-rickety argument can be made that Trump’s presidency has been a net positive vs. the alternative. He has without question helped to get the left out in the open, to show its true colors. This has galvanized the opposition – and that is good. Trump has also done a number on the Bushes and Romneys and such – an unqualified good, in my book. The GOP will never be the same. Trump got rid of the individual mandate – a very good thing. Even if it isn’t permanent. That would have been inconceivable had she been elected.
He hasn’t launched any regime changing new wars, either. Yes, he makes bellicose sounds at times. But I think he does so because he is crazy like a fox. With her, we (the government, I mean) probably would have invaded Syria at the least and perhaps triggered a shooting war with Russia at the worst.
So, saluta Il Duce.
I am wearing my Fez!
When was America really ever free? [Taxation; conscription; slavery; eminent domain; etc. from virtually day one- Heck, in George Washington’s day, one could be arrested for riding their horse on Sunday…George Washington almost was!]
When did we ever fight communists and fascists? [We fought Germany to defend Russia, and after the war, handed all of Eastern Europe over to the communists… etc.]
Libertarians believe that people should solve their own problems [Which is easier to do without government- ’cause government creates or exacerbates most of the problems, and hinders the efficient fighting of them]
“The same people would be equally alarmed by dark reports about the threat posed by dihydrogen monoxide . . . aka, water.”
Shhh! Don’t give Uncle any ideas. ?
But seriously, California (and all the other states that adopted its lunacy) are essentially trying to put all but a small percentage of humanity “out to pasture”; that small percentage of course being the elites. Can anyone say “Agenda 21”?
Heres another from Europe – will probably make you sick (and I swear i was sent this link by someone -green car reports is NOT my normal Sunday morning read)…
https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1119690_austria-to-let-drivers-of-electric-cars-go-faster
Meanwhile here in London – our masters are considering a decreeing banning us plebs from using any petrol or diesel car on certain roads in central London….
Now when a couple people who have to use the roads go and buy (well lease) electric cars… the media will be all over how many more people have bought electrics and how sales are sky-rocketing (in percentage terms, given hardly any are sold now).
Looks like I’ll be driving my 2001 truck till I die.
Now all I have to do is be able to spoof the onboard computer in case my county decides to do exhaust tests.
Hi Doktor,
Amen, me too. In fact, I am hoping/praying I can hoard up enough cash to buy myself daily driver from the mid-late ’70s before the prices skyrocket.
Since I live in a state where no county does emission or safety tests, I would think that would be a reason to move rather than modify my vehicle. It sounds like the slave doesn’t want to leave the plantation.
EV’s have a place.in a MARKET DRIVEN world they can make sense.In niche applications,over time.We are run by politicians that are psychopaths and sociopaths.They are drug ddicts,alcoholics,pedophiles,idiots,narcissist,whore-mongering puppets.It isnt the ev thats the problem,its the quality of our elected puppets thats the problem.
Better vote,this election is critical.
Very true, Fred. The trouble is, that those psychopaths are trying to artificially FORCE EVs onto the mainstream market, by perverting the market with mandates and subsidies. EVs are fine in their various niches, if someone is willing to manufacture them, and people are voluntarily willing to buy them; but unfortunately, that is not the case. Instead, we have those alcoholics, sociopaths and pedophiles using the power which they have usurped to limit people’s choices and dictate their behavior- only instead of issuing an overt decree, they do it in a round-about way by such things as ever-increasing CAFE standards; carbon credits; subsidies, etc.
You stole my words, Fred. But as I have no patent on words, feel free to spread the truth far and wide. We have them here in Australia, more so here. Our 3 major political parties are indistinguishable from each other.
A patent on words is called a copyright.
“Better vote,this election is critical.”
Sorry to say this, but voting ain’t gonna do squat! By doing so, you’re essentially picking your poison; either vote “Republi-cunt” for a slow and perhaps painful death, or vote “Dumbo-crat” for instant death.
This has more to do with almost all politicians being crooked than there being two wings of the one dictatorial party.
We should all go out and vote for the very worst, most corrupt, dictatorial, loony, communist bastard! THEN maybe the good people (both of them!( might actually rebel and stop participating and start casting off the chains of tyranny ((Granted, only till it gets back down to a level they are comfortable with, or under the control of someone who they like, who will enforce their ideals over everyone else).
Only trouble is: It’s almost impossible to tell which candidate is the worst.
Who’s worse: Hitler or Stalin?
I could just see the average voter today: “Yeah, but Hitler only killed a few million* Jews, while Stalin killed 60 Million Russians! The choice is clear! Vote Hitler!” [*=Just using the oft-cited numbers, though in reality, it was far fewer- Not that that’s any consolation…]
CAFE can’t prevent the sale of non-electric automobiles in the rest of the world.
Are police departments going to go to bicycles or horses?
There are a large number of bicycles sprouting booster motors which neither make them motor vehicles nor make they subject to CAFE or any other emission law, which is what it is.
I recently saw an article about a hybrid based on a small turbine engine, which wouldn’t have any trouble meeting the CAFE. Even if they weren’t allowed in the US, other manufacturers will adopt them because they are more efficient than current hybrid designs, and they will give a boost to the supercharger market.
Never underestimate bureaucratic stupidity. About 40-odd years ago, during the CARTER administration, came about that nadir of American automotive effort now affectionately known as “Motor City Malaise” (there is such a website, too, though it’s not well populated). Generous Mother (GM) had ‘downsized’ their flagship full-size models (even the Cadillac, sigh) in 1977, Ford followed suit in ’78, and Mopar finally said goodbye to the venerable B-Body (Dodge Charger/Coronet), though they did continue it with the Dodge Magnum/Chrysler Cordovba until ’80, when that was downsized into the 2nd Gen. Cordoba and the ill-fated Dodge Mirada. As for the Chyrsler Corp. Full-Size, the C-body was discontinued as of ’79, being replaced by the ill-fated “R” body cars (Chrysler Newport/New Yorker, Dodge St. Regis, and, owing to the demand for fleet vehicles, primarily taxis and police, a Plymouth model, the Gran Fury, in ’80 and ’81. These ‘smaller and yet still (ostensibly) ‘full-size’ cars came with the Slant Six as the base engine, except in the New Yorker, other choices were an anemic 318 2 bbl, putting out all of 130 horses, a 318 4 bbl which squeaked out 140 ponies for California cars, and the ‘performance’ engine was a 360 4bbl which was NOT available in CA. Mopar had made the decision to no longer drop their big-block engines (at that time, 400 and 440 CIDs) into cars, reserving them as optional engines for large trucks (the largest engine you could get on a 1/2 ton full-size pickup was the 360). Not only was the venerable Dodge Monaco police cruiser a thing of the past (“it’s got a ‘cop’ motor, ‘cop’ tires, ‘cop’ shocks, it’s got a 440 cubic inch plant, made before catalytic converters, so it’ll run good on regular (leaded?) gas”), the California ‘fuzz’ were denied at least the 360 engine in their new Dodges! The CHP tried to get a waiver from the Air Resources Board, which wouldn’t budge, and officers despised the anemic Dodge’s with the wheezy 318. At least the pigs shared in the motoring malaise of the times!
In time, most police and state patrols got the M-Body Dodge Diplomat (in ’82, the Plymouth got a version of the M-Body which took the Grand Fury name, its production until ’87 was almost exclusively fleet sales), which was a slightly stretched version of the F-Body (Plymouth “Vo-Lar-ehh” (Volare) and Dodge Aspen), same wheel track, many body and suspension parts interchange.
I was very good at the weekend. Stopped at a diner with a friend only to have a Tesla Model 3 with CA plates (we were in NH) follow us into the parking lot.
I did NOT ask him how he liked his coal-burner, nor how long it had taken him to drive from CA, how much time he spent waiting for it to recharge. Or even if he’d had it shipped here while he flew…
I just smiled at him in Land Rover.
Hi Hugh,
I have been asked by Tom Woods to debate a “Libertarian” Tesla defender… I can’t wait to sink my fangs into him!
Do publicise this Eric, that would be well worth listening to.
Who could like a coalburner? I mean, sloppy seconds previously tainted by a jungle savage? Ewww!
Once you go black (Doesn’t one have to pay a lot extra to get a non-black Tesla?)…we don’t want ya back!
LOL!
Since there are no Land Rover repair shops where I live, how would having to be towed farther to one than a Tesla would go on a charge? Land Rovers are rarer here than Teslas.
Well, Von, at least you found something with which to compare a Tesla that is even worse than a Tesla! Yeah, the LR can be refueled in 5 minues….but whether it can make it from one gas station to another without the tranny blowing; the air suspension crapping out, or otherwise breaking down, is unlikely…..
I knew somebody with an LR once. I wanted to give them a breakdown kit as a gift- so I went out and got a Coke bottle filled with gas and a rag; and a book of matches.
How will people in apartments charge their new mandate EV?
Just another bottleneck to EV usage.Where will we even get the electrical juice to power them all? That capacity takes time to bring online.
The air-quality, once all of the new electric generating facilities start multiplying, will be so poor, that people will be wishing for the Los Angeles of the 70’s by comparison!
The very absurdity of labeling EVs as “zero-emission” just because the emissions are transferred from the tailpipe to a remote location! But that is a sympton of the brave new world we live in, in which words no longer have meaning, except to elicit conditioned responses to the ignorant who have been so conditioned as to sunshine and lollipos whenever they hear the much-bandied word or phrase.
Hi Nunz,
Something to consider: This EV thing is not unlike the sudden LBGTQSUV thing. The media creates the impression that everyone is either “trans” or has someone someone in their circle who is – it’s normal, etc.
Actually, it’s not.
And it isn’t common, either.
In both cases, the media is creating an illusion of majority. Just as most people are still hetero, there is no real demand for EVs. A fiction has been woven to confect that demand, or at least to support the force-feeding of EVs.
Very much a la Bruce/Caitlyn.
Very true, Eric!
Trouble is, just like the LGBTBBQ BS, the government and the media, by constantly making such things “issues”, and spewing non-stop drivel about them, ends up making such things a part of the collective consciousness- to the point where even though the actual affliction only affects a tiny percent of the population, the majority actually become of the same mindset as those who are truly afflicted- to the point even where some who would never even think of such things, even join the ranks of the afflicted, because the deathstyle is presented to them as a “choice”….
Think about it. I mean, just look at the way “transgenderism” has spread, even among little children who would never even think of such things- merely because the topic is bandied-about continually, and portrayed as a “right”.
When I went to school, I never encountered one kid who thought they were a gender other than what their “equipment” said they were; and there were no 10 year-old fags, dykes or he-she’s- and if any little boy proclaimed that he was a girl and dresswed like one, his parents would have taken him to the nearest loony bin- along with anyone who was stupid enough to go along with his charade- but today, every school has such- even in the tiniest towns in flyover country- why? Because their parents fostered such, because they believed the propaganda; and the kids continue it, because it is given legitimacy in all societal institutions now; they are pandered to and encouraged….
It’s a fiendishly clever and diabolical system, which warps and controls ideas while those who are being controlled by it actually think that they are somehow fighting for a “right”.
The very same scenario is now being applied to transportation- so that people cheer when the autonomy of cheap convenient personal transportation is destroyed in favor of “mass transit” and expensive and inconvenient EVs. We’re already seeing it, when people sign petitions/vote for “more mass transit”, and desire EVs, and curse ICE cars as “polluters” etc.
Amen to that, Nunz! Seems that 2 + 2 is starting to equal 5 with each passing day.
Also, the “multi-racial diversity” BS. I look in awe at every ad on TV and print, taking care to show not only whites. In every group, there must be a “person of color”. Yet, when I’m out and about, most of the groups of people I observe are all of the same persuasion! Imagine that!! People who have things in common tend to choose to hang out together! There is an absolute onslaught of propaganda.
Charging stations will be installed at parking spaces like outlets to plug in ones block heater, as another amenity.
Could you imagine just in one major city alone- like NY- retrofitting every parking garage and curb-side parking space with a charger? It would take at least 100 years….
I think the Amish might have understood the direction of the future better than the rest of us and resisted what was coming. They may be the last people in the country to enjoy any kind of liberty. From AI to transhumanism, to transportation, rejecting technology is starting to make more and more sense. If you want to live rural, a horse and buggy are going to be the best, if not only way to get around.
They will live rural as long as they are ALLOWED to.
An assult on one area is an assult on all areas.
Have you seen Lancaster recently? The (((usual suspects))) have commercialized honorable people who want to be left alone.
They are decreasingly rural while keeping their simplicity.
Depends on the sect. Ones here are still very rural- but there’s a fambly of ’em who own a store nearby, and they have electricity, a phone and a credit card machine and food stamp terminal! -The previous non-Amish owner didn’t even have the latter two!
It’s not the technology it’s that people’s fears are manipulated so that new technology becomes the excuse for growing government power.
A horse is a dangerous transportation device. Far more dangerous than the typical automobile because the horse has a mind of its own and one that can be frightened into actions that pose considerable danger when used as transportation. But because horses had been used for so long there was no convincing people that they were unreasonably dangerous. Enter the automobile. It’s new. It didn’t take much into frightening people into giving government more power over transportation to deal with it.
It’s all just manipulations.
I’d rather trust my horse not to kill me, than some idiot hurtling toward me in a car at a combined speed of 140+ mph while texting …
But for all the laws, fees, licenses, cops, and more intruding into our lives does that make you trust that idiot even one tiny bit more? Did we gain anything from this government intrusion?
Um, No – why do you ask?
Because it’s people who didn’t “trust” their fellow man with the new technology that demanded and favored all the laws and intrusions.
Hell no, I don’t trust my “fellow man” (and women; they are the worst) including those busy bodies trying to control everyone else’s life.
Trouble is, the average person somehow believes that the elected busybodies are somehow immune to the moral shortcomings which afflict our fellow man- when in fact, they are the ones who most often possess an even greater abundance of those shortcomings, and who attained their office by being chosen by a majority of untrustworthy fellow men.
That is because the average person attended a public school and accepted all of the programming.
But none of us are average.
Of course not. We are Americans and we all have exceptionalism. Maybe some day a cure will be found, before it kills all of us.
I’m not normal.
You either live with the risk or have the busy bodies and still have the risk. Government control over automobiles is the later.
Government is every bit as much a racket as war is. It just kills fewer people in less violent ways.
“Politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed.” – Mao Zedong
Hi Anne, sadly, the Amish are moving away from being farmers in many areas. The price of land is too high, and the government fatwas prevent them from avoiding big AG practices. The evil State prefers fewer very large farms over many small ones. Can you imagine trying to plow 1000 acres with a horse drawn one bottom plow? There are areas in the country that aren’t suitable for big AG due to small field sizes as a result of mountains and other barriers. The Amish in those areas will probably continue to farm.
The Amish in other areas are transitioning into small business owners and employees. Some of their Church communities allow members to have Internet and a phone at the business site, but not necessarily at home.
I think that Congressman Thomas Massie has it right.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18_yXt1s2yc
Even the Amish are taking a pounding… From SWAT teams raiding their farms because their REAL organic veggies don’t conform to the government’s standards which allow corporate-farmed junk to be labeled as ‘organic’; to being persecuted because their little old-fashioned crime and drug-free schools don’t have indoor plumbing……to paying fines and going to jail for refusing to do business with certain people at their stores who have been disfellowshipped/with whom they don’t want to bother.
There’s no escaping the beast from within.
This is a sick, SICK country…..
And the Republicans have done nothing to stop the madness. We still have CAFE, we still have ethanol, we still have ObamaCare, we still have massive debt spending, etc., and now we get crazy tariffs. Explain to me why I should vote for these people? Trump isn’t Hillary. Great, but what else you got? Apparently, nothing.
Hi Geo,
Trump – without denying all of his many flaws – has pulled the U.S. out of the global “climate change” treaty, something truly Black Swan. And he did end the individual mandate for Obamcare – which will save me at least $800 next year. I think he wants very much to get Uncle out of the fuel economy fatwa’ing business, too.
Consider what he is up against: An almost universally hostile media and cultural elite; an entrenched bureaucracy. His own party – and the Democrat Party.
Even though I grok his Il Duce tendencies, in some very important ways, he has already proved to be infinitely preferable to the Hildebeast….
Same here. I would love to see him get the government out of the fuel efficiency business. Trump does face a hostile media and public. I hope that he can get another term and he emerges from teh midterms relative unscathed.
I don’t vote, but I do give digs to the guy for the tax deductions and repealing the mandate. Saving an extra $90 a paycheck since it went into effect. Trump should have let the Obama cafe mandate stand and send the auto makers into bankruptcy for not meeting it soon enough though. Some pocket change to help prepare for the next crash.
Then you ARE voting for the Socialist-Democrat Tyrants!
You mean the GOP right? Because not many laws have been repealed from the previous administration therefore the Rethuglicans agree with 99% of Obama’s legislation.
You don’t get all the things you want in politics (poly-ticks).
You’re just lucky if you don’t get all the things that you DON’T want!
The deep statist shave become so entrenched, is ther any alternative to a hyper strong, egotistical personality with a rock solid ego and a sense of mission to change course? The alternative is open civil war with our deliberately Balkanized society and a couple generations of “the troubles”. Trumpster is far from perfect but me and mine like him.
Hi Ernie,
No disagreement; I find myself inclining more and more toward the Orange One as well.
That will change as he continues to lean towards the fascism.
He’s leaning so much already, he reminds me of my brother-in-law when he’s about to fart at the breakfast table…..
He pisses off all the Leftists – that’s good enough for me!
When Hitler vs. Stalin, the only ones who win are the tyrants. We always lose. The one we prefer may throw us a few small sacrificial scraps to make us think there is a difference and keep us participating (Seems to work for the masses!)- but in the end, the outcome is always the same, and we are always the poorer for it.
When’s the last time any politician did anything where we can look back and say “Wow, we were so much better off for having had him/her/it in office!”.
No matter who it is, we can only look back and say that things are worse and we are now less free than we were before. Who’s driving the train matters little- it’s just a point of endless conversation and hoping for the naive; that there IS a train, is the problem.
Amen, Nunz…
Not one in a million men are fit to rule, least of all those who seek to do so.
Well, unless you have a spaceship sitting all warmed up waiting to take you out to “The Black” then you are going to get “participated” whether you like it or not.
Nothing the matter with trying to exist quietly out on the fringes (I do it myself) but IMHO not voting (against, if not for) is like adding more cartridges to the cylinder while playing Russian Roulette.
The best way to win at Russian Roulette is to not play the game.
So whatxadvantage does one gain by giving their assent to Hitler or Stalin? Voting for one or against the other amounts to the exact same thing.
So, you really think Trump is Hitler ?????
Uh, no, I don’t think Trump is Hitler- but anyone who occupies a position which perpetuates and or expands collectivist-authoritarian power over those who have not voluntarily consented to be subject to such a system, is essentially doing the same thing as any other tyrant; or for that matter, if such an office-holder does rule those who do consent to be so ruled, but does so in a manner not consistent with the rules of the particular system which created that office (in our case, the Constitution) then he by very definition is a criminal, and is exercising such power inappropriately.
So even if one agrees to be ruled by the precepts set forth in the Constitution, all one is doing when voting for politicians is making a choice between several people who will disobey that very document which is supposed to rule them, just in different ways and by different means. (Is that what The House Ways And Means Committee is all about? 😉 )
So take your pick: Hitler or Stalin; Trump or Hillary; the names matter not- they will all perpetuate the illegal central bank; the IRS; illegal wars; redistribution of wealth programs; communal edumacation; jailing of those who have done no violence to others nor their property; etc.
Actually, when one considers how many citizens have been incarcerated in concentration camps (prisons), and how many millions any one of them have killed in various wars, Hitler actually starts to look rather mild by comparison.
If you were a slave, would it matter much to you who owned the plantation?
Just that a plantation owner is allowed to own you, is the problem. And while one master may be slightly better than another, ultimately you are still a slave and must serve the master or be beaten or killed.
We are all slaves.
And if one day the plantation owners were limited by a document- a constitution- which constrained them to treat the slaves in a certain way- but the owners used rhetoric and force to side-step the provisions of that Constitution- you are no better off than before- and the existence of that Constitution is meaningless.
Hitler had a predictable dictatorial ethic, Trump’s ethics are like skating on a trampoline.
Yep. He’ll say one thing. 2 seconds later he’ll say the opposite; then he’ll do a third.
Standard politics.
Reminds me of the time I called the local county executive to ask a question for a relative. He talked for 20 minutes; I didn’t know anything more at the end of the conversation than I did before I called.
So when asked by the relative “So, are they going to be putting water lines on that street?”, I said “Your guess is as good as mine!”.
It was like a class on doubletalk and rhetoric- and the guy was a master at it- making you feel good the whole time….
And that was here…in a very rural county of 10K people- and this particular politician was just an old hillbilly nobody. One can only imagine the levels to which the same must be practiced at the national level!
Okay, fine – just go ahead and carry your untarnished idealism right into a socialist hell.
Oh, O-K…
So let’s see: At what point will we have a choice to cease the gradual spread of the cancer known as socialism which has been eating away at any liberties which once existed for the last 100+ years?
And if we ever should have such a choice, where are all of the people who will take advantage of that choice in sufficient numbers so as to effect the desired outcome?
Last time I checked, all candidates were pimping socialized healthcare; state control of trade, industry and business; Taxation/redistribution of wealth; wars; the state interfering in family and personal relationships; state-created jobs.
I do not see one candidate advocating the dissolution of Social[ist] Security and other entitlement programs; agricultural subsidies; fiat currency and fractional reserve banking; communal education; etc. etc.
And our people are so averse to liberty and individual autonomy, that no politician who would propose departing from this devilish socialism would stand a chance.
The only real option is for those of us who reject authoritarian collectivism to stop participating in it in our own lives. And giving assent to the politicians who promote anything which usurps liberty, is the last thing we should want to do- for that only gives them more power, and makes us partly responsible for our own enslavement, and the enslavement of our neighbors.
Again, Hitler- the Nazi Party [Nazi= National Socialist] or Stalin- the Communist party.
Do you really have a choice? Is there any substantive difference, other than the names, and piddling little details, and the various candidates throwing the people little bones over such things as abortion, or marriage, or what bathroom who can use, when such issues should not even be a concern of government- but in fact are just used to make it appear that there is a difference, and to appeal to the average person’s desire to inflict their own views on others?
Has this socialism been dialed back or halted at any time during the last 100 years?
I remember Ronald Reagan saying sometimes wonderful and at times even libertarian things…and yet it was during his admin that I saw government increase in size and scope more so than at any time in my life!
And Nixon implemented wage and price controls! [The very essence of Marxism!]. So please show me where the choice is.
40 years ago, the Dems were already pushing for socialized medicine, while the Repubs opposed it. Today, both parties advocate it- they just bicker about little details. Some choice!
So let us know how that works out for you…..
And now we have Trump- who just appointed a Supreme Court judge who helped pass Obammycare; who authored part of the “Patriot Act”, and who has no regard for the Bill Of Rights, and who thinks that it is fine for gov’t to spy on all citizens, and who even showed past admins how to do it.
Did you vote for that?
Nobody who is running is the least bit interested in stopping the spread any of our many malaises.
Anyone can stop the spread of any of them by simply rebuting moronic verbal support of them every time it appears before you. Most people lack the moral courage to do this, or we wouldn’t have fought any foreign wars after WW2.
So, what are YOU doing to fix the problems?
Not perpetuating government, which causes those problems.
I don’t assume that there is some communal solution to any problem, and then proceed to force others to participate in those “solutions”.
People have to solve their own problems- which would be a lot easier without their actions being compelled by threat of violence exerted by certain men who are given special powers by the consent of x-number of voters- which amounts to nothing but mob rule, which it’s participants try and legitimize by the use of euphemisms like “democracy”.
When we try to exert control via coercion and violence against those who have not done violence to others, we are nothing but tyrants and dictators- and we can not regain liberty by perpetuating tyranny- but only by dismantling it, or removing ourselves from it’s jurisdiction (The latter of which I am pursuing).
I understand the no vote idea.They cant legitimately ‘rule’ if they dont have the vote.My vote on the fed level means squat,Im in Calif,its blue,period.But on the propositions state wide,and on the county level at least i can try to change things.But again,Calif being so liberal I never really win on those either.The FreeShiiteArmy wants those ‘freebies’,ie,my tax dollars.
I can agree 100% with ya there, Fred!
I live in a very rural county in KY…..which, like everywhere else in “Murca is becoming more librul by the day…. One vote really can make a difference here. The local incumbent magistrate lost the last election by ONE vote- LOL! (I’m glad! If I had voted, it would have been two!)
And, this was a “dry” county when I moved here- and two years ago they had an election to determine if it would remian dry or go wet.
There’s NO WAY I could have voted in good conscience though.
On the one hand, as much as I enjoyed it being a dry county (Keeps the riff-raff out. Not that people who drink are riff-raff…but it keeps the real hardcore types away) how could I vote for it to remain that way, when I’m opposed to prohibition of any type?
Yet, if I were to vote for it going wet, I knew damn well that it was just a ploy for the politically-connected to start a few new bidnesses and make more bucks; and to funnel more money in the form of taxes to the state and county- plus, it is also a ploy to expand “law enforcement”- as more time and resources will be put into “fighting DWI” and they will site the rise in accidents as proof that such is drastically needed- never mind that when campaigning to allow alcohol sales, they ;promised that “DWIs decrease in wet counties” [LOL- but of course, morons fall for it!]- and sure enough, now that the county has gone wet, I hear sireens every weekend, whereas before, I’d hear a siren maybe once in 6 months…. So taxes will now rise, and “law enforcement” will grow (There was hardly any here, prior to going wet)….and the lawyers will have a lot more business….
So, as usual, damned if you do, and damned if you don’t!
No matter how one votes, it is still a vote for politicial control. Although merely prohibiting alcohol sales in the county was the lesser evil…but still, I’d die from the hyposcrisy if I had voted to maintain that. (I just wish others had!) -The vote was pretty close, too- maybe a matter of 30 votes in a county of 10,000 people.
Here is a quote from an article I read in the mid 90’s. Unfortunately I cannot recall the author or the source.
“The elite have long abhorred the unfettered condition of the working masses. They ignore the public transportation so thoughtfully provided for them. Instead they choose to wander about at will in their horrid little smog belchers, without so much as a travel permit.”
Hi Jim,
Exactly.
And, it’s become obvious. To anyone who has actually thought about the matter, I mean.
Simple A to B to C logic.
If EVs are so desirable, why must they be mandated and subsidized?
How will “mobility” be enhanced by cars that cannot travel as far and which are tied to umbilical cords?
Why are EVs being pushed so hard when gas-engined cars make so much more economic and functional sense?
Will the president ever have an EV motorcade? Will the cops ever have electric MRAPs when SWAT kicks in your door at 3 a.m.? Will the Army ever have electric tanks and Humvees? No, friends… THEY will ALWAYS be exempt — just like they exempt themselves from the gun control laws they impose on YOU…
Hi X,
Exactly.
This is something I point out whenever I debate the topic. In order to impress upon my opponent – or listeners – the fact that the “sacrifices” are never made by those imposing them. Why is that?
If “climate change” is a real danger, then there can be no exceptions.
The fact there is a general exemption for a special class of people tells you all need to know.
It’s of a piece with the left elite’s screaming about the immorality of placing a wall at the border… while building walls around their gated communities.
Not even the fokking Post Office – which actually could successfully utilize electric delivery vehicles in many locations!
It’s a perfect application: a known daily driving distance, no long highway trips, and not driven evenings and nights so a dedicated slow charge time.
Yup.A niche where the ev might actually make sense? Cant have that.Instead lets let aholes like Kamala Harris and her ilk set policy.Yeah,that’ll work.Better vote peeps,as odious as that is.
I forgot to add: lots of starts and stops; may spend more time idling than actually moving.
This company utilized what is probably my favorite electric delivery vehicle of all time and it was quite successful. I can just imagine a fleet of these cruising around…
https://www.olddublintown.com/swastika-laundry.html
It has a name. United Nations imposed – “Sustainable Transport”. You inability to own personal vehicle mobility is all for the greater good comrades. So say our unelected high commissars in that grand New York building.
I dreamt that the most horrible Halloween creature showed up at my door today. The beast was clad in armor from head to toe and toting automatic firearms, grenades, and CS gas containers. It held out a camouflage Army dufflebag that read “I’m from the federal government, and I’m here to help you.”
I dumped all my candy into the bag before hastily retreating back into the house.
Trick or treat, everyone.
If you think trick or treat was always about candy, they have you as ignorant as they want you.
Get used to it.The transportation future for all but the 0.0001% is welcome to the ‘bus’.Or the hourly rented ‘pod’.The elites….flying down the freeways in gas powered Bentleys.
All the ev mandate is is about US being crippled in our ability to travel.Thats the goal,and it will succeed.Only a revolution can stop it,and snowflakes arent going to actually fight for anything.That said….its over.
Future people wont even know…..hard to lose something you never had.
Fred, I would be great to see an electric car, wind mill, or solar panel that actually worked so damn well people in mass buy them for their merits just to see all the got-damn’d statists pivot on a dime and oppose what they have been yapping about and shoving down our throats for decades. I know the public won’t even skip a beat if it happens but just for the shear display of what they really are that makes it completely undeniable it would be great to see.
The reality is they will never work that well and the only replacement for hydrocarbons is some sort of zero point or other exotic exploitation of the fundamentals of the universe. Something that will forever be kept secret from the masses and/or banned outright the moment someone tries to market it if he lives long enough to get to that point.
Solar panels work great for some applications. It turns out that they are cheaper in the long run than the old clankety-clank windmills for remote livestock wells.
Yeah… No
Used car market will explode and there aren’t enough armed government agents to force people out of their real cars and into these Globalist Death Traps.
I got a feeling if the right people get involved, then after the Red Tsunami, Trump can go full throttle crushing the Globalists and this 50mpg fatwa and Electric crap can be eliminated, though I’ve been proven wrong before with things
Still, gonna have to pry my keys out of my cold dead hands
I hope and pray that you are correct, Zane, but I’m afraid it’s likely that people will not just give up their real cars, but will praise and thank Uncle for turning them into neo-serfs. All it takes is the right incentives and giving people time to adjust to the “new normal” the TBTP bring in ever so incrementally, with perhaps the occasional push from some cleverly timed false flag tragic event. Think about it. people now line up for porno scanners at the airport, so naked pictures of them can be taken with various forms of radiation and thank TSA goons for feeling them up! I witnessed this last time I had to fly, a woman THANKED the TSA goon who had just finished feeling her up as part of her “enhanced” security screening! No one would have been willing to do this 20 years ago. If you had told people on September 10th, 2001 that they would be doing these things, everyone would have dismissed you as a crazy conspiracy nut.
Unless they do another Cash for Clunkers, I should be fine, as I’ll stick with the classics and original cars
Now where to find a clean 90’s 300zx
Zane,they wont pry anything.Like the dinosaurs,we will quietly go extinct.We were lucky to have seen the world we did.
Zane, back in the mid-late 1980s various forces tried to ban and destroy all pre-1980 vehicles. Yes, cars that weren’t even a decade old at the time. It took a lot of fighting to fend these people off. Fend off their crusher laws and more. Cash for clunkers followed the old program mostly. Destroyed the parts needed to keep other old cars on the road. Some of the clunker laws or legislation back in the day prevented even trim from being sold. There are all sorts of schemes on the shelf to get rid of the old cars.
Just add it to the list of why I am done with GM. After 20-25 GM vehicles in 30+ years between my wife and I.
Within the past few years we have divested in GM. Currently ride a Chrysler, MB, and I still have a ’14 Sierra that is not long for life with me. Ohh, and a ’99 Chevy farm truck (great truck, keeper). Son has a Ford, and daughter has a Dodge. Here’s my list for fun, and my own curiosity, and you will see why:
’69 GTO Judge, wow
’88 Cutlass, big V6 , fun but FWD aspect sucked
’87 Silverado, great truck
’89 Silverado 2500, great truck
’93 Silverado, great truck
’97 Silverado, great truck
(3-4) Buick Park Ave’s, awesome big car, v6 supercharged, just FWD sucked
’91 Pontiac Bonneville, good car, engine OK, FWD sucked.
’85 Chevy Impalla SS, awesome, wifes
’99 Silverado 2500 5.7, still farm truck
01 Caddy DTS, good bigger car, FWD hindered it
02 Sierra 1500HD, 6.0 great engine, great truck
03? Sierra 2500 8.1, horrendous engineering harmonic flaw, had 4 months
’99 Tahoe, wifes, OK
01 Suburban, wifes, OK
03 Suburban 8.1 to tow big.
07 Sierra Denali, great package, new 6sp shifting was undrivable
08 Yukon XL, shifting was almost as bad as the ’07
’11 Yukon XL, better.
’11 Sierra Denali, better shifting, but still didn’t like it for a big 6.2
’13 Caddy ATS 2.0T, great car, just too small for normal life
’14 Sierra SLT, mostly good, but 6.2 should be better tuned (compared to my first FCA Hemi I drove)
I missed a few. I was a on-the-road salesmen for most of my life, 35-50K miles/year, and why so many.
The other thing to keep in mind is that the elites will continue to have their heavy footed consumption lifestyle though they will have to buy carbon credits (AKA indulgences) from Uncle’s sanctioned trading platforms. You and I will get to “participate” in the phony market for these credits too, by doing without. Don’t go out tonight? Good boy, here’s a credit worth whatever the market price happens to be at that moment. The useful idiots will do things like freeze to death in order to build up credits so they can pay the carbon footprint for that vacation to the beach. That is until the credits get to be too valuable, then watch as Uncle pulls out the rug by issuing more and the “market” crashes.
One of the ideas of technocracy is that each person will be allotted so much energy based currency to live his life. The idea goes back at least as far as the 1930s. Now consider UBI and carbon taxes. There ya go. How we will be managed. We get only so much. They get whatever they want of course.
Bay, what a cattle call if there ever was one! We need to give every socialist basterd a free one-way ticket to CommieFornia, then run “the wall” straight up it’s Eastern Border, to Canada, for that matter! Let them find their own source of drinking water, and national defense, for all I care. A few decades of life living like the former Soviet Union ought to make it easy to bulldoze the whole west coast, and then use it as a Federal Pen for the rest of the bureaucrats still on this side of the wall.