Greenie Coercion

A recent edition of the Washington Post dropped a hint that the government would like nothing better than to force us to buy a new car in the name of the better good, both for the environment and for our own health.

From this article in the Washington Post:

Older Cars Fouling Region's Air Quality
Agency Study Links Recession, Pollution

The recession is contributing to higher levels of air pollution in the Washington area as new car sales plummet and older, dirtier vehicles remain on the road longer, according to a recent study by regional planners.

[...]

"If you trade in a 1995 Jeep Cherokee for a new one, that's a big difference in emissions," said Ronald F. Kirby, COG's transportation planning director. "We can't keep emissions going down unless we get newer vehicles in the fleet."

[...]

Kirby said he was particularly troubled that aging vehicles are predicted to cause increased emissions even as motorists are expected to cut their driving by 2.5 percent...The finding is at odds with a basic tenet of transportation planning, that tailpipe emissions drop when people drive less.

The article also indicates that the problem is a national one, albeit not yet widely recognized:

Rich Denbow, director of technical programs for the Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations, said the COG study is the first in the country to document the connection between older vehicles and worsening air pollution. However, Denbow said, he expects other areas will find the same problem when they update their air quality forecasts.

"We're the first ones to see it, but I think it will be a national issue," said Denbow, whose organization is based in the District. "Our economy is better than a lot of others, so the [older vehicle] problem isn't as bad here as it will be in other areas."

We also read the following statement from Joan Rohlfs, chief of air quality planning for the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, as she emphasizes how controlling emissions is a health mandate:

"Anything that contributes to pollution is not good for anyone's health"...

Perhaps most significantly, we read the following money quote from the aforementioned Kirby:

"How can you expect us to meet our targets for emissions when we have no control over the economy and the rate at which people buy new vehicles?"

In other words, "If we, your government overseers, are going to meet the federal requirements and get our federal subsidy, we must tell our citizens to shape up right now and head on over to the car dealer."

As one whose newest vehicle dates from year 2000, I can see what's coming sooner or later: I, and others like me, will be taxed or fined for driving older vehicles and thereby coerced into buying a newer vehicle.

Such coercion will, of course, have a negative effect on independent automotive-repair garages as car owners will be forced to obtain service at car dealers. The dealers, often the only facilities with the kind of equipment needed to effect certain repairs and types of maintenance, are fewer now, thanks to BHO's meddling in the automotive industry. I guess that it's fine and dandy to have to drive further, pay more, and wait longer for those repairs. After all, doing so is all for the greater good — never mind the good of my wallet or yours.

After all, we must save Mother Earth, even at the cost of enslavement and not being able to enjoy her bounty:

There are no slaves so willing as those who don chains and shackles of their own accord and in the name of the greater good.

Additional reading: THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS and Junk Science.

Oh, and just so you know, Anthony “Van” Jones, BHO's "Green Czar" is an admitted Communist with an arrest record:

...The East Bay Express, an Oakland area Black on line magazine reported Comrade Czar Jones...became a communist when he became enchanted with “these young radical people of color — I mean really radical, communists and anarchists. And it was, like, … I need to be a part of[them].”

[...]

Jones proudly says he spent the next ten years working with the people he met in jail in April, and “by August I was a Communist.”

His website “Green for all” carries this telling quote from Comrade Jones on his new position, “… we’re going to be in an economic slowdown for a couple of years. So to take three months, four months, six months to spend this money the right way-we’re not going to get a chance to spend a trillion dollars again! Ever. So let’s do it the right way!”

This is the kind of appointee BHO wants as a close adviser. Telling, very telling.

Of course, Greenie coercion isn't limited to your cars. Nosirree! From this posting at THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, citing this essay:

...[T]he Waxman-Markley energy bill has a requirement that forces the entire United States to use a National Building Code based on the green building standards of California. Regardless of whether your house is in Miami, Florida or Bangor, Maine, you’ll have to adhere to the standards used in a state that has one of the most moderate climates in the U.S. The construction industry is really going to suffer.

The bill forces sellers to have an energy inspection prior to being able to sell their home. Windows, appliances and insulation will have to be inspected and approved by a government inspector and modifications would have to be made for compliance before you can close the sale.

Basically, you won’t be able to sell until you go through the expense of bringing your house up to the new code. This will cost a prohibitive amount in many cases.

So much for our right to property, be it the right to own our present automobile or to sell our homes. That right will be yielding to the right of Big Brother to snoop into every aspect of our lives.