Commentary
This is the story of gullible low information voters and weak-kneed automobile manufacturers who have allowed our fossil fuel energy independence to be abandoned to make a transition to renewable fuels with the fantasy of altering climate change.
During Joe Biden’s campaign, there were a number of opportunities for voters to see how he had been convinced by the radical progressives on the left that global warming and climate change needed to be priority number one.
He repeatedly talked about it in the debates and who can forget his promise to a New Hampshire activist – “I guarantee you, I guarantee you … we’re going to end fossil fuel.”
Yes, politicians always make promises they don’t keep, but his agenda for attacking climate change was clear.
On his first day in office, he stopped the Keystone XL pipeline and repealed the energy policies of former President Trump. A week later, he signed an executive action outlining a mind-boggling whole-of-government approach to the climate crisis.
Polls showed that most Americans, it seemed, had taken a ho hum attitude over the climate change mumbo jumbo. That was until mid-year when gasoline at the pump sky rocketed. Biden blamed it on Putin’s war in Ukraine.
It was on May 24, 2022, that Biden shook many of us when, during his visit to Japan, he calmly revealed that “(When) it comes to gas prices, we’re going through an incredible transition that is taking place that, God willing, when it’s over, we’ll be stronger and the world will be stronger and less reliant on fossil fuels when this is over.”
So, there he was, standing on Japanese soil, admitting aloud in public that higher fuel prices had always been part of his Green New Deal plan.
The Electric Car Gambit
For more than a decade, I have been critical of the automobile manufacturers that ignored the free market, producing vehicles the public wants, and caving to café standards and government pressure to reduce emissions.
Less than 22 percent of Americans would consider an EV for their next vehicle, according to surveys. “Yet the manufacturers are ‘all in’ on EVs,” according to Jack Baruth, writing in the Washington Examiner, who added, “I’ve been told by several senior Big Three engineers that future development of gas and diesel-powered vehicles have been all but canceled.”
Supporting my belief about the buying public, Baruth wrote, “It’s axiomatic in this business that the dealers understand the buyers much better than the automakers do.”
A number of dealers are opting out on the expense of equipping to sell and service EVs to the extent that they are taking buyouts and giving up their franchise of the line of EV vehicles.
Big government wields a lot of power over the manufacturers, even beyond electric vs gas. They are being coerced to reach the goal of 50 percent electric cars by 2030, but Baruth was told that mass production of EVs within seven years will be somewhere between a disaster and a catastrophe.
From my stack of stuff, I pulled a copy of letter to the editor of the Wall Street Journal, in which GM Chairman and CEO Mary Barra admitted that “U.S. companies must lead this transition. It’s the only way we can control our own fate.”
She lied, however, when she wrote, “GM decided to move aggressively into EVs without any assurance that government policies would support the move.”
There were those $7,500 rebates, and no doubt she was assured that billions of dollars would be authorized by the government for clean energy innovation and thousands of charging stations across the country. It’s predicted that the infrastructure won’t be remotely prepared for the number of EVs coming off the lines.
No one seems to be thinking about what will provide the power to the charging stations. Certainly not wind or solar.
California recently urged EV owners not to charge their vehicles to prevent electric blackouts. With winter coming, it will be interesting to see how EV owners survive snow and ice in northern states.
And is anyone thinking about the supply chain matter? Again, we are subject to raw materials for copper, cobalt and lithium, and battery technology controlled largely by China.
Meanwhile, Rasmussen Reports revealed that only 28 percent of American adults believe electric cars are practical for most drivers.
Beyond EVs
With gasoline prices still twice as much as they were when Biden took office, natural gas costs are increasing energy bills as winter approaches with 17.2 percent increases forecast. Natural gas for cooking and heating has already increased 33 percent over the past 12 months.
European countries are feeling it too with soaring energy prices and some are turning to investments in fossil fuel infrastructure.
AND FINALLY … The unelected Acting High Commissioner for Human Rights at the UN, Nada al-Nashif, has the audacity to tell us “There is no room for backtracking in the face of the ongoing climate crisis.”
We can return our nation to sanity if we vote Republican in 53 days. VOTE.
May God continue to bless the United States of America.
