The hype over EV’s is sinking fast, like enthusiasm for COVID jabs. But our government is truly in love with mandates “for the public good” that don’t work. What’s next?

One of the ways engineers solve complex problems is by seeking patterns. Design of Experiments or DOE is one of our tools, among many, that we use to reveal patterns among complex variables.

Patterns also exist in nature as well as humanity. For example, we all know there is a pattern between plant growth rate versus CO2 concentration, and we are even beginning to understand patterns between human DNA versus ideology.

So it goes that the pattern between the Left and their zeal for outlandish mandates cannot be dismissed. Instead, there is something far more sinister in these patterns since their intensity, breadth and immediate impact on our lives has accelerated greatly since Social Security, Medicare, or even ObamaCare were forced on us. The Left has flexed their muscle on ways to get around our constitutionally protected rights. They’ve discovered a new drug to get high on, and they’re not going to give it up willingly.

The COVID jab and EV mandates reveal striking similarities. Both occurred quickly in recent years, both were woefully untested before being forced on us, and both have undesirable long-term outcomes.

The shot (I’m not calling it a “vaccine” because it fails the former definition of “vaccine”) was forced into arms before we knew its efficacy and safety risks. In under a year, we discovered that it didn’t live up to its promise to “stop the virus in its tracks” so the heralded benefits morphed from stopping the virus to well, maybe you’ll have less of a chance of being hospitalized. Later, we learned more about the harm it has done to otherwise healthy hearts and reproductive systems. Years from now we may discover the shot will have caused far more long-term harm to our lives than good. You might be rejected for blood donation if you took the shot(s). Young people seeking their lifelong mate might ask on the first date “did you get the jab?”

Now, EVs completely untested for life cycle compatibility to our transportation needs are forced onto us from both federal and state mandates, but the public’s appetite is waning fast, because people are waking up to the realities of their limited range, lack of reliability in poor weather conditions, risk of fire, practicality of charging, rapid depreciation, cost of repairs, etc. Time will tell if, like the shot mandate, the will of the people will be heard by federal and state governments and EV mandates will be rolled back or eliminated completely. But what will be the long-term effect of the EV push that we don’t know yet? What will become of those vehicles that were enthusiastically built that can’t be sold? What of the used EVs that have no resale value? Scrap? Recycle? How? What of the massive expansion in lithium mines and poisonous leach fields scarring the earth? Will these sites become the newest uninhabitable Chernobyls?

Personally, I am pleased that the “green” movement is starting to lose its momentum in the public eye. Whereas not long ago we had to “Save the trees” by thinking twice before printing any document, recycling paper and using electric hand dryers, now the green people are talking about burying trees in the name of “Carbon Sequestration.” Talk about a 180 degree about face! Five years ago we were told by climate guru Sandy O that the earth would end in twelve years, but we’re about halfway there and nobody’s seeing the ocean level rise yet, not even a teensy little bit, and we’re still driving our pickup trucks and SUVs. Lastly, weather-related catastrophic electric grid failures in Texas and elsewhere have clearly demonstrated to people that we are far from ready to increase our reliance on “green” electricity alone and no other energy or heating fuel source. People are, in general, tiring of hearing that the sky is falling.

But patterns, like history, are stubborn things. As the saying goes, “those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.” So, while the failure of “green” initiatives and mRNA shots are very satisfying indeed to logical, clear-thinking people, the Left’s newly discovered love for mass mandates won’t end. I do not believe we will be so gullible to fall for a new virus outbreak next time, nor will we be so quick to believe the next “end of the world” forecast. Time for something fresh and new. What will it be? What will cause the next emergency need for new mandates “for the public good” that will instead threaten to ruin our lives? Are we prepared? Will something be mandated to us if the illegals in our country band together on a new and massive domestic terror plot that will shut down commerce, transportation, and even the upcoming election? What mandates will be enforced if a war breaks out with China that will shut down supply of all things we critically rely on from that country from medicines to electronics to ball bearings? What mandates will threaten our savings and our property if the country fails on its debt obligations with no end in sight on our compounding national debt and insufficient tax revenue to cover the debt plus our non-discretionary spending?

These are only some of the hard questions for our current and future elected officials. We have a Pentagon with 30,000 people working on contemplating global conflicts, but do we have any elected officials capable of planning ahead how to protect our constitutional rights not if, but when, the next disaster happens?

Image: Alan Tennyson