California’s deciders want to ban everyone’s cars. If we’re talking about cars that aren’t – cough – “zero emissions” electric cars.
The state’s Chief Decider – Gauleiter und OberGesundheitsFuhrer Gavin Newsome – has already decreed via “executive order” that only electric cars shall be legal for sale within the borders of what was once the Golden State by 2035.
Now, two of the state’s national-level Deciders – Senators Alex Padilla and Dianne Feinstein – are urging the ban on other-than-electric cars be applied nationally. 
“We believe the national baseline should, at an absolute minimum, be built around the technical lead set by companies that voluntarily advanced their agreements with California,” says Padilla, who replaced Kamala Harris in the Senate. “California and other states need a strong federal partner.”
Ein Volk! Ein Reich! Ein Car!
The electric car.
The vehicle for this will not be marketed as a ban outright, however. Instead, it is being marketed as the “rewriting of emissions rules,” which were purportedly “slashed” under the regime of the villainous Orange Man. This is a piece of rhetoric up there with the marketing of the “Patriot” Act and – earlier precedent – The Law to Remedy the Distress of the People and the Reich.
Orange Man did not “slash” any “emissions” regulations. What he did was dial back the scheduled increase in federal MPG mandatory minimums, an altogether different thing being used to systematically but oleaginously shadow ban gas and diesel-powered cars without formally banning them.
The federal apparat has been issuing “executive orders” – i.e., regulatory edicts – since the 1970s regarding how many miles per gallon every car (and truck) sold in America must go else its manufacturer receives a “fine” – that is to say, is extorted – as punishment for not having met whatever the standard is. These fines are then factored into the sticker price of the offending new car, thereby making it more expensive and thus progressively less and less affordable.
With the end goal being to make such cars unaffordable.
Voila – they are banned – without having actually banned them. That is the purpose behind the escalation of MPG minimums, which have risen from just over 20 MPG initially – back in the mid-1970s – to pushing 50 MPG (what the Orange Man tried to dial back) by 2025 and which Feinstein, et al wish to see dialed up.
Almost no one questions why the government is issuing these orders given customer orders would surely accomplish the putative purpose – assuming customers desire the things the government says they do, i.e., MPGs Uber Alles.
Of course, it is not questioned because the answer is that many customers value other attributes uber alles – such as a larger/more powerful vehicle, for instance – or more affordable vehicles. And are willing to spend more of their money on gas as the price of that.
It does not matter, either, that before the government got into the mandating of MPGs uber alles there were many cars that offered high gas mileage – for those who wished to pay the price of driving a small, not-very-powerful car.
Or who didn’t want to pay more for the car, to spend less on gas.
The problem here is that not everyone wants to drive a smaller, not-very-powerful car nor spend a fortune on a car for the sake of MPGs uber alles – and (far more problematic) some people are quite happy to spend more of their money on cars that aren’t especially “efficient” but are very good at other things.
It is a problem when freedom of choice is loathed – and the government is the apotheosis of that loathing. Freedom of choice means the freedom to say no to what other people think is “best” and to say yes to what you think is best – for you.
There is no power in that for government. For gauleiters, gesundgeitsfuhrers and other such order-givers.
The problem for government is that it is hard to sell the taking away of choice. And of mobility – which is what electric cars specialize in, uber alles.
So it is done using different language. The language of guilt. It is not about MPGs. It is about “emissions,” with all the ugly connotations that attend.
But the “emissions” at issue are different “emissions.” They are not the ones most people associate with the word – i.e., the vapors that water the eyes and irritate the lungs, which darken the skies with smog and soot. Those emissions have been an irrelevance since the early 1990s, by which time vehicle exhaust scrubbers (catalytic converters) and precise control of combustion via electronic fuel injection had all but eliminated them, the tiny fraction remaining being of no meaningful consequence as regards health or air quality.
Another problem.
The answer was – is – the redefinition of “emissions” to encompass a gas that was previously not so defined, because it played no role whatsoever in the formation of smog, the irritating of lungs or the watering of eyes.
Carbon dioxide.
The beauty of this gas is that it cannot be scrubbed “clean” except by not producing it. Which makes it the perfect vehicle for banning all cars that are not electric cars, even though electric cars cause the generation of the same gas, just at a different location.
This point is important because it is telling.
If the “concern” expressed by the various gauleiters und gesundheitsfuhrers was in fact about the gas then it would not matter whether it is “emitted” at the tailpipe – or the smokestack. It would certainly be a matter of grave “concern” that most EVs are high-performance EVs, which is to say they cause the generation of far more gas than is necessary for the sake of that high-performance capability.
But not a peep.
Never mind. Go back to sleep.
Pay no attention to those men – and women – behind the curtain.
. . .
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For those wanting to run and maintain older stuff instead of joining the incapable of turning a starter key masses.
The next great idea, coming to a city near you.
https://www.odometer.com/car-care/2562390/sacramento-ca-makes-diy-auto-repairs-illegal/
*Restricted tools include air compressors, impact wrenches, and even tools as simple as torque wrenches.*
This is really beginning to remind of the old car wars of the 1990s where they wanted to ban everything made before 1980.
Hi Brent,
I fully expect another attempt to impose such a ban – this time without actually banning them. Instead, they will decree that older cars may be used provided they are updated to meet current or “acceptable” standards. Or their owners pay a special fee to be permitted to use them.
They will portray older cars as “dirty” and “dangerous.” And this time, it may just work.
I bet that all those billionaires & friends living in California will have an exemption! Their multi-million dollars ICE cars collections will not be banned!
The BAN only applies to the herd of moron slaves.
Maybe. When the pre-1980 car bans were being floated there would only be exceptions for what government decided was collectable and that was merely a compromise.
The SRF & Billionaires last attempt to CHANGE Their Civilization is a huge success…
OPERATION COVIDIUS provides so many opportunities to DEPLOY all kinds of new “laws” that the herd of modern moron slaves won’t even notice.
And when they transfer the success of Mythical RNA to Mythical CO2 just enjoy the Circus.
Eric – im wondering – do you see any hope if proper old school car culture moving out of the US/west and to other parts of the world? I mean it will eventually happen that say a country like India will make a better ICE then say the western companies if they give up development now. And I really dont see how a country like India can EVER have enough electricity to power all cars by electric…. I think the same about say Pakistan where im from where people still love their cars and driving, and as cities have gotten crazy expensive over the past decade or so there is a new boom of suburban developments with huge roads. What comes next is expanded car ownership….. though the country has serious problems still, I do see the direction as positive for cars and car lovers…
Hi Nasir!
This is an interesting question and the answer is likely (as I see it) depressing. I think car culture was a unique outgrowth of post-war prosperity in a country with vast open spaces and the fact that – for those several wonderful decades – government/corporate entities were unable to control cars. They didn’t have the technology and they hadn’t yet conditioned the public to servility. I suppose it is possible these conditions could arise again in some future place, some future time. But for our time, I see a Red Barchetta scenario – with cars becoming almost like heretic books, treasured and preserved by a handful of apostates.
With these EVs…why doesn’t anyone talk about how destructive it is to get rare earth materials to make the batteries? Do these so called environmentalists even know how much earth is dug up and removed? Megatonnes!!!! These people are batshit crazy.
Hi Anon,
“These people”- the ones pushing EVs – aren’t “batshit.” Don’t make the mistake of assuming their stated motives – preventing “climate change” – are their actual motives.
I’d bet that after they got ICE engine vehicles banned it wouldn’t be anytime before they started regulating electric vehicles.
Hi Old Coot,
EVs are going to be controlled rather than regulated. Their electronics make them so. Their dependence on centralized power makes them so.
Remember The Dale?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twentieth_Century_Motor_Car_Corporation
I think if you put a couple energizer batteries in it GovCo would subsidize it, the automotive press would lionize it, and any negative comments would be banned by social[ist] media.
Lordy, Lordy — Lordstown Motors gets rudely WHACKED AGAIN by the EV deniers at Hindenburg:
‘NEW: We received behind-the-scenes photos from a shoot ahead of the July 2020 commercial for the $RIDE Endurance [pickup].
‘At the time, the company was 3 months from going public and claimed it would be delivering trucks to fleets “in early 2021”.’
https://twitter.com/HindenburgRes/status/1374785641263857664
Muh wah hah hahhhhh — TOWED AWAY, as some butch enforcer lady tries to block the camera’s view.
The best way to deflate the tires of the EV movement is to laugh our asses off at their endless deception, lies and broken promises.
Gotta be some sad clown faces in Lordstown today, as the stock price deflates almost back to where it started. 🙁
‘An onlooker explained that the Endurance broke down on the road mid-shoot, with workers struggling to push it onto a truck before calling a tow truck.
‘The deal to take $RIDE public was announced on August 3rd, just 2 business days after the release of the commercial.’
Shades of ol’ Trevor Milton at Nikola — he’s got a hill in Utah they coulda rolled that Endurance down!
What I’m hoping for is that we are going through a temporary period of insanity. There are some duty cycles that make sense for electric, others make sense for gas. An electric car is better for constant stop/go driving or short trips, if it’s price competitive. Let both technologies exist, damn it.
But no, it’s got to be their way, and only their way. Nevermind that cars with engines like Mazda’s SkyActive-X are more efficient end-to-end than electric cars, this isn’t about pragmatism, but virtue signaling.
Hi OP,
The Left is viciously intolerant – its pieties regarding “diversity” notwithstanding. It is only “diverse” in terms of superficialities such as skin color and genitalia. It is rigidly homogenous with regard to thought – and expression, as by making choices based on different thought. This includes deciding not to drive an EV because it is too impractical or expensive or some other reason. Everyone must drive an EV, no matter the cost or impracticality.
Hey Eric,
“The Left is viciously intolerant”.
Herbert Marcuse, the muse of the totalitarian left, created the “intellectual” framework for the intolerance, hypocrisy and viciousness of the left, masquerading as virtue, five decades ago in “Repressive Tolerance”. Though most of the “woke” morons have never heard of him, his virulent ideas shape the poisonous culture we live in.
I plan to watch this series,
https://newdiscourses.com/2021/02/critical-theorists-as-grand-inquisitors-the-logic-of-repressive-tolerance/
I hope it’s as good as it seems.
Cheers,
Jeremy
Top-shelf, Jeremy – thank you for posting this. Marcuse was a damaged man; damaged by his experience in NS Germany. Like many damaged people, he lashes out at what he regards as the source of his pain. Which is – as with most Leftists – anything they don’t like, which makes them uncomfortable. He goes from reasonable criticism of the dangers of totalitarianism to advocating for his brand of it, to “prevent” it.
Hey Eric,
Thanks!
“He goes from reasonable criticism of the dangers of totalitarianism to advocating for his brand of it, to “prevent” it.”
You nailed it. Liberalism (properly understood) is dead, across the political spectrum. To paraphrase Barry Goldwater, “Totalitarianism in defense of “social justice” is no vice. And tolerance in the pursuit of civil discourse is no virtue”.
Cheers,
Jeremy
Is SkyActiv X still on ? I thought they scrapped it?
Here’s a good take on why this is pure BS as far as being good for the environment:
prageru.com/video/whats-wrong-with-wind-and-solar/
Also how much CO2 and assorted other nasty pollutants get blasted into the atmosphere by the average volcano? Really would like to see a battery powered tank, the Russians will be be laughing so hard they won’t be able to shoot straight.
Don’t fall into the trap of letting radical environmentalists and statists get away with their assertions regarding CO2 and thus setting the agenda. In point of fact CO2 is not a ‘nasty pollutant’ to be lumped in with the likes NOx or CO. CO2 is an important component of our atmosphere that is necessary for plants to exist and thrive.
And of course, plants “ingest” the CO2 and produce a “waste” product that we all need – oxygen!!
Exactly right with the volcano. Even more severe is the average forest fire. One fire in California releases so much CO2 that all man made CO2 is completely inconsequential. Want to make a dent in CO2 emissions? Start by limiting “our most vulnerable citizens” (previously known as homeless vagrants) from starting these fires.
Which brings to mind a huge volcanic eruption, Krakatoa, that occurred in 1883 I believe, a few years before we started recording temperatures, which was the same time the climate change hysterics use as their base line for “cooler” temperatures. Could it be that the effects of the particulate from Krakatoa created unusually cool temperatures at that time? Which is the first climate effect volcanoes present, if not the only one. It’s a fact that it did cause years of red sunsets, just like Pinatubo in the Philippines did in the 1990s. Such events along with the biggest engine in the solar system, called the sun, have absolute observable effect on climate that CO2 is merely theorized to have.
Going to have to go back to cables, pulleys, gears, and shafts using water to drive them all. Plenty of power when water is used to turn gears.
You’ll be able to build and operate a factory with the cable and pulley system technique.
It’ll be 20 mule teams and Fresno shovels to build roads for the electric car scooters to truck along.
What else are you going to do with no ICE engines to move D16’s? Caterpillar would have problems making everything all electric. Good luck with an all electric earth moving machine.
Strong mules will fill the void, nature abhors a vacuum.
China has a coal consumption rate of 3,826 billion tons per year. The US did consume 900 million tons of coal per year maybe ten years ago or so, US coal consumption is down to 546 million tons. China consumes seven times more coal than the US.
China has increased emissions, The US has actually decreased emissions considerably.
Mongolia’s electricity generation is 95 percent coal consumption. Manitoba has hydropower, hydroelectric, 95 percent of Manitoba’s electricity is generated with hydroelectric dams.
California can reduce emissions until the cows come home, China’s increases will offset what California attempts to reduce. China is the culprit here, California should have a talk with the Chinese.
The Union Pacific and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe would haul coal to Newcastle.
California doesn’t have a leg to stand on, they’re all wet, la la land stuff, huge credibility gap. They’re not thinking it through, they’re more or less brain dead. lol
The US Navy and Vandenberg Air Force Base will keep California in the union.
Have to correct the billions of tons to millions.
3,826 million tons consumed by China each year, 3.626 billion tons.
I dont know if its happening in the US – but in Europe there are now strict SOUND limits on cars !! can you imagine! Infact the situations gotten so bad that performance cars like the new M3 have to have fake engine noises piped through the speakers in the car to give the effect !!
How sad is that !?
Gonna need a small nuke in every county, more in cities. And maybe why gates has invested in such recently.
“California’s deciders want to ban everyone’s cars. If we’re talking about cars that aren’t – cough – “zero emissions” electric cars.”
No, they don’t want to ban “everyone’s” cars. You can bet your life that they’re going to exempt police cars, military vehicles, and armored vehicles for “important” people like themselves.
Does Newsom’s order mandate electric Humvees for the California National Guard? Electric Bearcats and APCs for the SWAT teams that are going to kick in your door at 3 am? I kinda doubt it. There will be exemptions for armed government workers, just like armed government workers are exempt from California’s restrictive gun, magazine, and ammo laws.
By the way, I think that it’s unfair to compare Newsom to Hitler. The Fuhrer, after all, made sure that his volk had access to an affordable, reliable, simple, ICE vehicle — the Volkswagen. What Newsom and his ilk are doing is more along the lines of Mao and Pol Pot.
Good point X. How is the average patrol car gonna sit for hours with the HVAC on in the E-car? haha……
I recently was at a rest stop on a very busy toll road with all the gas pumps packed with cars waiting in line. How the hell would this work with e-cars. gonna need a couple acres more land to accommodate cars waiting for an hour or more to re-electrify.
Robocop wont’ need A/C.
And the car you are in will do whatever its true master tells it to do. No need for traffic cops when you could not make the car do something illegal if you tried, because the safety systems won’t let you.
‘Ein Volk! Ein Reich! Ein Elektroauto!’ — EP, channeling the ghost of Adolf H
‘In September, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order directing the state’s air resources agency to require all new cars and passenger trucks sold in California to be zero-emission by 2035.’ — Reuters
What is the purpose of having a California State Assembly and State Senate, if not to represent the will of the people on matters of public policy affecting nearly ALL of them?
‘The Führerprinzip can be most succinctly understood to mean that “the Führer’s word is above all written law.”‘ — Wikipedia
No vote on banning ICE cars; no democracy.
Democracy’s last vestige in Kalifornia may consist of defenestrating the hated Newsom in the coming recall election — assuming that county registrars in a one-party Führerprinzip state don’t collaborate to disqualify ‘just enough’ petition signatures, in the same manner that wee-hours ballot dumps furnished ‘just enough’ margin to push Old Corn Pop to victory in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia.
Kalfornia’s rotten edifice of Potemkin democracy is erected on a foundation of brazen lies.
Time to hold a constitutional convention. Vote to break up California into 10-12 states. Southern California’s population is similar to the northeastern US yet is considered part of one state. Northern California’s influence on national politics should be removed, not celebrated. California’s outsized influence in the national debate has become tiresome. And if I was a politician in anther state I’d be very upset with the undue influence of California over my state’s sovereignty.
Oh sure it would probably suck at first, with the senate gaining more potential Democrats, but think about places like Orange County, which was until recently a Republican outpost, and the central valley, which has more in common with Nebraska than it does SFO.
In a state with a distinct and homogeneous culture, Texans would hate busting it into five pieces.
But having reserved that right upon the tragic renouncement of its national sovereignty in 1845 to pick cotton at gunpoint on Uncle Sam’s roach-motel plantation, no constitutional convention is required to facilitate such a division.
Ten Senators from the states formerly known as Texas would more than nullify pillaging liberal freaks like Feinstein and Padilla.
Why Texas should be obliged to mutilate itself to defend the country against Kalifornia Krazy (where citizens have been ‘liberated’ to shoot heroin, sh!t on the sidewalk, and freely shoplift up to $950 without legal consequence) is another question entirely.
A much cleaner, though exceedingly constitutionally difficult, solution would be to expel Kalifornia. This could only happen under a conservative Republican president — a political configuration to which Kalifornicators have vowed NEVER AGAIN. Then they might secede under their own volition, sending troops in electric taxis to defend the state’s borders, a la General Gallieni’s Taxis de la Marne in 1914.
RK,
“Time to hold a constitutional convention.”
Because that kind of thinking has worked so well in the past.
A dozen more state governments. What a wonderful idea.
They’re wiping their asses with the current constitution. Nothing they would come up with be an improvement over the current one.
Much as the current constitution was a step backwards from the previous Articles of Confederation, which was illegally replaced by the current one.
Pretty sure the same thing we have now would just be replicated in the new sub-states. Rural Red with a big Blue dot where the major cities are. Blue city rule over an otherwise red state.
We don’t need a Constitutional Convention, the Constitution has failed. The Federal power grab begun by Lincoln has grown to the technocratic socialist state we confront today. What we need is separation into a dozen regional republics loosely united, ala the Articles of Confederation. Each republic would decide on all local issues such as economic system, welfare state benefits, energy policies, criminal justice, etc., while uniting with the other republics for national defense.
The constitution didn’t fail. The constitution is a piece of paper. We the people failed the constitution. It was our responsibility to enforce it. To make sure the governments abide by it. We didn’t, and just let the constant escalation of tyranny happen.
Largely because of Saint Lincoln killing more than 650,000 Americans, more than all other wars combined, to establish the Federal government as the omnipotent monster it is now. Before then, the notion of secession was widely accepted as a fundamental right of each State, which was the only real defense of the Constitution there ever was. Giving each State the right to say “fuck off”. The statists have been building upon it ever since.
Never mind that centrally generated electric power is the least efficient means of delivery of energy we have in current use, It’s just convenient as hell. Unless you’re trying to run your car on it.
“The vehicle for this will not be marketed as a ban outright”. A thing the Psychopaths In Charge are using in all aspects of their tyranny, at an ever increasing incidence. “We aren’t banning guns, we’re just taxing the living crap out of them”. “There is no mandate for vaccination, we just won’t let you live without one”.
I’m not too sure we need be concerned overly much about 2035. I think the US economy, and perhaps all western economies, will hit warp Weimar speed inflation long before then, and crumble. Either that or the world wide bank cartel will take control of it and NOTHING you are allowed to do will have any choice involved. Or there could be a serious degree of secession. There is certainly no rainbow at the end of the road we’re on now.
It is not about efficiency it is about control and dictatorship. Soon, population reduction. Did you get your shot yet?
Hey, I was born at night, but it wasn’t last night.