As the Declaration of Independence holds, the purpose of Government is to protect our Liberties and Freedoms. The Federal Government was limited to a few, distinct Powers.
Related: Senate Dems Say Pelosi’s House Gun Grab Bill (HR8) is Dead on Arrival
Yeah, silly me to think that we have lost much as the Feds have grown past its Constitutional fencing.
In the case of driving, the Feds made it clear that it would determine the kinds of cars we would drive – not by all of the safety regulations as well as the pollution ones – via the EPA and MPG standards. Immediately, cars shrunk (and in doing so, limiting the size of families).
States, however, have no such limitations as they were the sovereign States that created the Federal Government in the first place. Many, notably California, mandated even stricter standards AND even the kinds of cars (mandating electric cars only in the very near future).
But now, Minnesota is the first state that I know of that will mandate how many miles a resident can drive and, of course, under the banner of Sustainability (meaning, you get to have a lower standard of living); reformatted, emphasis mine:
DFL bill aims to limit how much Minnesotans can drive
State Democrats want to limit the number of miles Minnesotans can drive, according to a new bill making its way through the Legislature. The “Sustainable Transportation Act” would require Minnesota to adopt a goal of reducing vehicle miles traveled by “at least 20% by 2050.”
Rep. Frank Hornstein, DFL-Minneapolis, said a reduction in vehicle miles traveled, or VMT, is needed “if we are going to make headway in reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the transportation sector.” “Transportation is now the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions and we’ve had the least amount of reduction in the transportation sector,” Hornstein said during a Thursday hearing on his bill. The Minneapolis lawmaker thinks that “driving less really is one of the key ways we can reduce greenhouse gases.”
Well then, why not Go Big and tell your constituents that they can’t drive at all!
But once again, as we are seeing FAR too often – The government believes it knows best for everyone in any situation than those in the situations themselves (stemming back to the beginning of the Progressive Era when the belief first started). Instead of protecting Liberties, it is now deciding how to run your lives. Doubt me?
How little pushback has there been by Citizens to their Government during the Pandemic?
So, we see the accelerating push towards that old Agenda 21 – “rack’em and stack’em”. In a time where rural home prices are soaring due to folks moving out of the cities and near-in suburbs, this could reel them back in.
Against their wishes. Isn’t this just an opposite to the American philosophy that WE, the Individuals, should be able to “pursue our own Happiness” which was defined, in no small measure, as property when the Declaration was written?
Sam Rockwell, executive director of Move Minnesota, said the production and distribution of electric vehicles has not “happened fast enough to meet climate timelines.” “We would have to be producing 100% electric vehicles within the next seven to eight years to achieve that,” he said while testifying in support of the bill. Rockwell also called for making the VMT goals “legally enforced to make it more than just words on a page.”
But of COURSE Rockwell would say that it hasn’t happened fast enough. For him and others, it has been a failure of the Market – simply because it hasn’t done what they wanted. They couldn’t bother to go out and create a product that others would voluntarily purchase – so using the Force of Government (again, another fixture risen from the Progressive Era – harness that Force to make others do what they otherwise would not!
Less mileage means less emissions – and that’s where they stop. Ramifications? Nope, not their concern. It does not even occur to them what the consequences might be on others. They don’t matter. It is, as I (and others) have said in the past – it is about The Plan. Nothing can be allowed to vary it or dissent from it. And no issue will be allowed to stop it.
Rep. John Petersburg, R-Waseca, pointed out that reducing vehicle use would also reduce revenue for the Department of Transportation, making it more difficult to fund some of the projects proposed in the bill, such as a new “electric vehicle infrastructure account.”…“The gas tax used to be the obvious way to do it. It’s not anymore, so a so-called vehicle-miles traveled tax or mileage tax, whatever you want to call it, could be a way to do it,” he said.
So, you are willing to pay a buck, two bucks, or more to drive a mile? Or more? After all, once a new tax is started, it can only get more and more costly. And what about your car tattling on you, given how “wired” automobiles are getting?
Or are you willing to fight for the Limited Government that was supposed to be our legacy? That WE determined our Happiness and not Government?
(H/T: AlphaNews)
