Blog

The title of this blog is a quote taken from a speech President Ford gave to Congress in 1974. The government was too big, even then. It was nowhere near the behemoth it is today. Here’s a quick numerical comparison. In 1974, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the U.S. was $5.645 trillion, and the national debt was $475.06 billion. The ratio of GDP to national debt was about 11/1. Our current GDP (at the end of 2022) was $19.427 trillion against a national debt of about $31 trillion. That is a ratio of about 2/3. I only mention these numbers to suggest that our government, because of its lack of interest in reducing spending, will soon be confiscating an ever greater portion of the incomes of American workers. It will be taking.

To see how the government has/is taken away our freedom of choice lets take a look at a couple of innocuous examples. The Energy Policy Act of 1992 mandated that toilets manufactured or installed after 1994 use a maximum of 1.6 gallons of water per flush. (There is probably nobody better qualified to discuss the amount of ‘stuff’ that flows through our sewers than Congress). It is none of their damn business. Making suggestions and recommendations is fine. They overstep with mandates. The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 set new standards for light bulbs. The bill has seen delays since then. New rules adopted by the Biden administration in April of 2022 will effectively phase out the sale of incandescent light bulbs in July of this year. The administration’s claims of how long the LED bulbs will last, and how much money they will save consumers, range from unlikely to ludicrous. Any savings the new bulbs may provide will be dwarfed by the increase in the cost of electricity resulting from Biden’s reduction in the supply of fossil fuels. That is secondary to the fact that the government has no place telling Americans how to light their homes. If they are as good as the government says, people will buy them. There is no need for mandates.

On a more important note, take a look at how the government has stolen our freedom of choice in the purchase of cars. In that I covered some of this in an earlier blog I will skip a few parts. In 1975 Congress passed the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards. CAFE ultimately eliminated the production and sales of large autos. Each update of CAFE was more stringent than the one before. Without any input from consumers, smaller and smaller cars were foisted on buyers. The central planners in government are now deciding what kind of cars we can buy. In 2020, California Governor Newsom signed an Executive Order mandating that 100% of new cars and passenger trucks sold in his state be emission free. Not to be outdone, in August of 2021, President Biden signed an Executive Order requiring that 40-50% of new cars sold in the entire U.S. be electric by 2030! The only place zero has a chance of of occurring is when calculating the chances that either of these mandates will be achieved. (That there is zero chance we can generate the electricity to power millions of new electric vehicles while at the same time reducing fossil fuel production doesn’t even measure on the ludicrous scale, and is a topic for a later blog). How will the government replace the gas tax when people are not buying gas to power their cars? How will we repair our roads and highways? Wait until you see the tax they charge on the miles we drive. They will take more from us. You are going to love it!

The auto industry is only the beginning of government overreach as it pertains to electricity, and our freedom. Just this week the U.S Product Safety Commission announced they were considering a ban on gas cooking stoves. Approximately 40% of American homes cook with natural gas. After an avalanche of negative feedback the administration said it did not agree with the recommendation. Don’t be fooled. The suggestion wasn’t made off the cuff. A lot of thought went into it. California is debating a law that would ban the use of all home appliances that aren’t “zero emission”. The list includes stoves, water heaters, air conditioners and furnaces. But it doesn’t stop there. It also includes lawn mowers, leaf blowers, etc. Remember that zero emission is code for, it won’t work during power outages. New York Governor Hochul announced new regulations that will require electric stoves in all new buildings. Don’t let your guard down fellow citizens. This was just a trial balloon. We will be hearing more about this in the future. It is just a matter of time before gas fireplaces and gas grills are outlawed. I’ll not waste your time listing the idiotic reasons given for these recommendations. There is only one real reason. The Democratic Party is in bed with environmentalists. They have an ultimate goal of reducing the use of fossil fuels to zero, regardless of the disastrous impact on Americans.

I’ll close with an issue that should anger, even frighten, every freedom loving American. That is the expansion of the government’s definition of Eminent Domain. A definition of Eminent Domain is: The government’s right to purchase private property to complete a public project. The key to that definition is the word public. It was understood that private property could not be taken from one citizen and given to another. For nearly 200 years the government didn’t stray from this definition. That is no longer true. The Courts expanded the definition to include “economic development” as a reason to take our property. This expansion allowed governments to become quasi real estate developers. They can now take property from one private citizen and give it to another, more connected private citizen, who promises to pay more taxes. I could list numerous cases where the government violated the definition. I will list just one that I followed in 2005. It was known as Kelo vs. the City of New London when it arrived at the U.S. Supreme Court. It became a landmark case in the expansion of Eminent Domain. A private developer wanted to create a multi use shopping mall/condo facility where private family homes stood. Susette Kelo, who had lived in her home for 60 years sued the city of New London, CT. The SCOTUS ruled 5-4 that because the developer would be creating a lot of jobs, and new tax revenue, the city was justified in confiscating the property of the homeowners. The city condemned the properties, changed the zoning of the land, and sold the confiscated property to the developer. Home owners were left to find other housing. Since the 17th century, common law recognized that a man’s house is his castle. It is his refuge. Now, in the 21st century, at a time of enlightenment, government is invading that refuge for other than noble reasons. The Institute of Justice estimates that cities begin approximately 80 of these projects every year. The tragic irony of the Kelo ruling is that financing for the project fell apart. The property where 15 families made their homes sat vacant at least until 2020. There are no winners.

Our government has proven it will, indeed it has, taken what we have. The elites who treat citizens like chattel should be ashamed. We citizens who allow that to happen should be equally ashamed. When we act like sheep we should expect the wolves to eat us. Get involved!

I hope you found this blog informative. If you did please share it with your friends. Thank you, Bob.