The War on Things That Work (National Review)

“Like your stove, your dishwasher, your lawn mower?

Too bad

‘The interesting thing about the Green New Deal,” admitted Saikat Chakrabarti, the former chief of staff to Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, “is it wasn’t originally a climate thing at all.” It was, in fact, “a how-do-you-change-the-entire-economy thing.”

He wasn’t kidding.

The Green New Deal’s literature called for mobilizing “every aspect of American society” to eliminate greenhouse-gas emissions from “every sector of the economy.”

It called for upgrades and retrofits to “every building in America,” “charging stations everywhere,” the shuttering of “every” fossil-fuel or nuclear power plant, the forced obsolescence of “every combustion-engine vehicle.”

Its architects’ ambitions knew no limits.

And while the Green New Deal may be dead, the universalism to which its advocates adhered is very much alive.

Armed with unchecked self-confidence and possessed of an abiding faith in the idea that you must be coerced into altruism, the activists seem to be coming for almost everything you own.

In the process, they are waging a crusade against convenience, an assault on comparative advantage, and a war on things that work.

Securing the fossil-fuel-free future that (Pedo) Joe Biden imagines for us sometime in the 2030s will not be a pain-free proposition — at least that appears to be the conceit of the more radical wing of the environmentalist Left.

The scale of the challenge, as they see it, demands sacrifice from us all.

One of their most controversial moves is to give up natural gas-powered appliances, your gas kitchen range foremost among them.”

*

Identify the AFV

Identify the Aircraft

 

Is Conformity Virtuous?

Our country has become a conformist society where free expression is rewarded with the swing of a truncheon. We’re on a road that leads to repression, and we are not far from the destination.

This nation owes its existence and its never-seen-before prosperity to free thinkers.

The founders were men of the Enlightenment.

They stand in stark contrast to our ruling class of today, a corrupt and depraved cabal of politicians, state media, institutional leaders, militant activists, and corporate executives that is hurtling us into an era of darkness.

In the 2020s, the only “truth” is what the narrative, invariably fabricated by the worst people who have ever held power and influence in this country’s history, says it is.

We see those yard signs, the ones that proclaim their occupants’ unwavering grand tolerance and thirst for diversity.

But we know that those who put up those signs are the most intolerant, limited thinkers among us.

They don’t believe in diversity of thought.

Their objective is to force conformity to their way of thinking while immodestly displaying their superior virtue.

All countries, societies, and cultures have a natural gravitational pull towards conformity; it is one of the glues which hold societies together. But in order to grow and flourish, society must maintain and protect its diversity of thought and opinion. Throughout our history, the proponents of conformity of thought and opinion have sought to dampen and suppress divergent views, but never more so than in the present, when the pervasive intrusion of media of all types can bring incredible pressures to bear on those who do not share the prevalent views of those who control the government and/or the media.

*

Bullet Points:

** Overdoses involving fentanyl were behind one in five deaths of people ages 15-24 in California, the latest indicator of an emergency that shows no signs of slowing. Drug overdoses now kill two to three times as many people in the state as car accidents, according to data compiled by the consulting group California Health Policy Strategies. Since 2017, deaths related to the synthetic opioid, which is 50 times stronger than heroin, have increased 1,027%.

** The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has announced a 42-month program to develop a maritime propulsion system, a magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) drive, that uses no moving parts, silently propelling ships and boats with magnets and an electric current.

*

Crusader States in the Kingdom of Jerusalem

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

48 COMMENTS

    • The Germans toyed with it during WWII. It works. As long as your system is safe from EMP.

      There are a lot of possible virtues in a hybrid AFV system using diesel powered gensets to power electric hub motors. Neat thing is, potentially, every wheel can be a drive wheel.

    • “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”

      Lincoln and all presidents have had to contend with a swamp. It was thoroughly unmasked during the Trump presidency. Now we have an Alzheimer’s patient and a whore brazenly in charge an mental freaks like AOC and Fetterman in the legislature.

    • Lincoln was the swamp. He wanted fedgov to dominate and to crush the power of the states. The more I learn about him the worse my opinion of that would-be tyrant. (Who despised negroes, BTW. All the crap about “freeing the slaves based on a moral imperative” was misinformation.) And the more I learn about that beardy bastard the more I realize that I was deliberately fed a stew of garbage and lies in school.

      • Read up on Lincoln’s post war plans for reconciliation and rebuilding. He was a horror during the war but his plans post-war would have returned a lot of the power back to the states. But, as usual, some Democrat with a gun had to fuck that up.

        The Civil War was inevitable with the way the North was pulling the same tactics against the South that England was pulling against the Colonies that spurred the Revolution. The South just had no ‘France’ to save their asses. The Civil War was also inevitable in the way the Southern States were attempting to rewrite the Constitution and other founding documents to keep and expand slavery, which was agreed to at the time of the founding (signing of the Constitution) as a slow phased-out system.

        Fault lied on both sides, with some foreign help to jiggle the scales.

        Lincoln was a flawed man, who wielded excess power to keep and fight a war that he and his supporters thought was a just war. But he knew he was flawed and, as stated above, had plans to un-screw a lot of the things that got screwed up.

        If Lincoln had won, Reconstruction wouldn’t have been the colossal 80 year illness that hampered the South from recovering. It really took WWII to bring the South back as a productive part of the nation, other than as a supply of cannonfodder to the ever-wars fought after the Civil War.

        • I appreciate that insight Beans.
          We had that discussion on a small scale yesterday on my show with Scott Powell.
          It’s interesting that although the South lost the war, a Democrat (Johnson) was the presiding president over it’s end.
          I don’t understand the ire at Lincoln.

        • “post war plans”
          Talk is cheap.

          “Baby, come back to me baby! I won’ do dat no more. It’s jus’ you make me so jealous. I luv you, baby! I din mean to break you arm. I gotta slap you aroun once in a while to remin you whoz daddy, you know dat! An you gotta admit you was askin fo dat black eye.”

        • I think that, the South put themselves in a militarily losing position by having no industrialization, being utterly dependent on export of their ag produce to England. I think the Cotton Gin ended slavery. The South couldn’t have industrialization with slavery, as machine operators need to read instruction manuals, but chattel slaves can’t be fenced in at reasonable cost after they learn to read. Well maybe the smart phone with addictive social media is a good try at doing that.

  6. The key thing to bear in mind about the greens and their drive to change everything in pursuit of zero emissions is how often many of the main names (if not all of them) have advocated for killing off most of humanity. Killing of 95% of people is being the moderate; there are those that openly talk of a global population of 100 million.

    Any argument you can make for how natural gas is clean or even that nuclear power is zero emissions means nothing to them. They want people dead.

  7. I want to see them come into rural Texas and ‘try’ to take gas stoves from people… Re overdoses involving fentanyl, as far as I’m concerned, it’s cleaning the gene pool a bit. The CF-105 Arrow was the last bird Avro built and was the end of the company when the Prime Minister cancelled production and ordered the five birds destroyed. Questions still exists as to why that was done.

    • They won’t have to take gas stoves from people. All they have to do is ban propane and natural gas, kill production, shut down transport.

      Unless you are lucky to have your own personal gas well, They have the ability to shut you down just as easily as They can shut down the electric grid.

      Look at all the changes made to gas selling and delivery. Pay as you use vs Pay per fillup. Smart meters that ‘report’ to the gas companies. All can be used against the end-user. All can be used to shut off the gas remotely, or not deliver the gas at all.

      Say something wrong like “I believe the 2020 and 2022 elections were fraudulent” and suddenly your gas is shut off.

      Same with the new modern remote water meters and electric meters. Central systems can shut off power and potentially water without ever having to send someone out to the location.

      Ain’t modern life fun?

      Combine that with Their control of the driver license and motor vehicle license system. All controlled electronically. One simple flick of an electron and you are no longer valid.

      Add to that control of the electronic banking system and what do you have?

      And you can’t have gas or diesel cars or trucks. Or lawn equipment. Or emergency generators. Because Government says to the makers to stop making them and to the sellers to stop selling them and to the repairers to stop repairing them.

      Complete government control over the individuals. Indirectly, of course. Isn’t National Socialism a wonderful thing?

  8. My 25+ year old washing machine’s gearbox took a dump about 9 months ago. Parts had not been available for over a decade. The gas dryer blows a thermal fuse every 6 to 8 years but it works fine. So I bought a new Whirlpool washer and electric dryer set. The electric dryer was for an expected move to a total electric house that never happened. The new washer is a large capacity, high efficacy model that does a lousy job cleaning clothes. I have an inexpensive Sears top load washer that has 3 load settings in a mountain cottage that I bought used 15+ years ago. That Sears unit is loud and uses a lot of water but it cleans well. It also has had little use. I see me swapping the two washers around in the near future. I prefer clean clothes.

    • Everyone has had this trouble with the new fangled HE washers. They suck at washing clothes. Had a Whirlpool stacked unit we got at Sears 22 years ago for $600. The top load washer part cleaned the clothes perfectly. Lg/Med/Sm setting. Dirt simple. Fast-forward a couple of years ago, we thought a new front load set was in order, thinking it would be easier on our well and septic and get the clothes cleaner. Hah, gov’t morons in action. This thing never cleaned the clothes. After some research discovered it’s because the friggin gov’t forced manufacturers to use barely a cup of water with the new HE pods, plus a dinky rinse amount.you need water to clean clothes, but the govt regulator geniuses believe they know better.

      Two fixes: 1) take the top off and increase the fill valve setting…or…2) we run everything on heavy cycle as that adds more water, plus an extra rinse. Lastly, the stupid door seals trap water creating mold and a smelly tub. After washing for the day wipe the door and the seal, leave the door ajar overnight, then once a month run a tub clean with some bleach poured into the pull out tray bleach area. Also, clean the drain trap once in a while to avoid trapped water.

      Government screws up everything they touch/regulate/tax/subsidize.

        • There were contractors that were making lots of black-market money selling old reliable bathroom fixtures. Until the Government made them destroy all old fixtures when remodeling.

          Though some of the very new water saving toilets actually work without multiple flushes.

          • Our new dishwasher works really well, quiet and cleans the dishes. Except how can it be more energy efficient when the cycles are 3.5 hours long? (Old fairly decent unit was done in less than half that.)

      • I grew up in England and I don’t recall our washer not getting clothes clean, but the moldy door seal was always an issue. Based on my recollection of the drain hose, it used plenty of water, but government hadn’t stuck it’s finger all the way in in the 1980s. We had a stand alone spin dryer because the washer spin cycle frequently didn’t get the clothes dry enough to go straight into the dryer.
        Vertical axis drum of top loader makes much more sense for spin cycle, and less likely to leak from a sock snagged in the door seal.
        The demand for front loaders is there because they are “European”, so cool and modern and top loaders are not. It’s all about image.

    • If you want washers and dryers that work like they used to, Speed Queens are the way to go. Both electric and gas models. They are not High Efficiency but work, basically being ‘civilian’ models of commercial laundromat machines.

      Steel gears, stainless tubs. And you can still buy analog control models so no stupid chipsets and bs. Bonus, they’re easy to use and repair.

  9. “The scale of the challenge, as they see it, demands sacrifice from us all.”

    Excellent! Let’s start by sacrificing them first.

      • I can help. I now feel I must identify as an ancient Aztec priest. Of course i expect Our Betters to support my decision — after all, I’m merely coming out as an Aztec. It’s how Gaia made me, it’s definitely not a choice I made.

        And seriously, I’ve done open-chest CPR (on pigs, not humans thank God), so yeah, I HAVE “held a living heart in my hand”. Who knew that it was foreshadowing of my new, true identity. Manyconsonantscoatl be praised! Powerful the prophetic visions of Razorsinlarynx-Tlacuhtli!

  10. Yes, as wretched a hive of scum and villainy as has ever existed. Wonder what the “average citizen” thought and felt as Rome crumbled?

    The yard signs, the bumper stickers, and sometimes their tee-shirts let them virtue signal at pretty much zero personal involvement. Their superior attitude is most annoying of all. Pretty much guaranteed that 99% of what they spew is regurgitated nonsense that “everybody knows is true”. Zero independent thought or critical thinking, as it’s all been done for them, and relentlessly hammered into them by the MSM.

    Getting to be a lot like “They Live”, and we’re all out of bubble-gum….

        • At the apex of the pyramid comes Big Brother. Big Brother is infallible and all-powerful. Every success, every achievement, every victory, every scientific discovery, all knowledge, all wisdom, all happiness, and all virtue, are held to issue directly from his leadership and inspiration. What’s not to love? It’s like Pedo Joe – who successfullyy gamed the system, selling out to America’s enemies as effectively as the Clintons.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here