With some creative license, Martin Niemöller’s famous prose can be remade into something silly but fitting for our contemporary reality:

First they came for the incandescent light bulbs but I did not speak out, because I am a virtue-signaling leftist.

Then they came for the freon but I did not speak out, because I am a virtue-signaling leftist.

Then they came for the gas stoves but I did not speak out, because I am a virtue-signaling leftist.

Then they came for the dishwashers but I did not speak out, because I am a virtue-signaling leftist.

On and on ad nauseam; you get the point.

Last week, Jennifer Granholm announced that the Department of Energy would be focusing on “new energy efficiency actions” because of course, the greatest threat facing America is “carbon pollution” and the “climate crisis”. On a comedic sidenote, the announcement reminded me of a scene from cultural phenomenon, The Office; when manager Michael Scott becomes emotionally defensive of the under-fire business model of the fictitious Dunder Mifflin, he declares this:

You know what else is facing five Goliaths? America. Al-Qaeda. Global warming. Sex predators. Mercury poisoning. So do we just give up?

— Michael Scott (@carellquotes) July 6, 2012

Remember a time when even Hollywood conceded that being a sex predator was a bad thing? Those were the days....

(To watch the scene, click here and start at 03:43.)

Of course, the list is meant to be ludicrous and exhibit Scott’s complete naivete…cough…Secretary Granholm…cough….

When hordes of young men patiently await the end of Title 42; the dissolution of national unity and political bonds erode at unprecedented rates; and the middle class edges towards extinction; the general public is not thinking about whether or not their dishwasher is climate-friendly enough for the current regime (and that’s assuming they even have a dishwasher in the home!).

From the text:

The Congressionally-mandated proposed standards [are] for new dishwashers and beverage vending machines….

What in the world are “Congressionally-mandated proposed standards” by a federal agency? Heaven knows the Biden troupe needs a crash course in the Constitution, so here it goes….

Per the Constitution, the authority to make laws belongs to the lawmakers in Congress alone, and as Article VI notes:

This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof [emphasis added]…shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.

(I once had the displeasure of dealing with an ornery TSA agent who learned to her annoyance that the TSA is not a lawmaking body, and the sign that detailed masking was “federal law” was factually incorrect.)

Bottom line: the Department of Energy is an unconstitutional bureaucracy, and “Constitutionally-mandated” is a crafty way to imply legality (despite the lack thereof).

From Addison Smith at Just the News:

If implemented, the rules would require that dishwashers cut water and power usage by 34% and 27% respectively, according to Bloomberg Law. For smaller models, the mandatory reductions are 22% for power and 11% for water.

Let me tell you something about these “efficiency” rules: I have a new (and high-end) washer, and I absolutely loathe it. I have two sons and I get it, boys are stinky, but it’s so bad that I refuse to wash their clothes with mine; and I have to run the load twice!

I’m probably using more water with two “energy efficient” cycles than if I just had a legitimately efficient machine, and of course I’m using extra soap which in turn, leads to more detergent in the water supply (add this to an increase in my household costs) — these “efficiency rules” for the environment are asinine! Of course, one could assume that from the outset; when you hear government “action” you know it’s gonna be bad.

Even more Biden diktats to compromise and decrease the performance of appliances? Please, don’t sign me up.

Image: Free image, Pixabay license, no attribution required.