Silent sting

The ideological bent of the Democrats’ cap-and-trade legislation and attempted health care takeover manifest a mind-boggling appetite for social control. Today Nancy Pelosi’s health care monstrosity earns recognition as “the worst bill ever” by the Wall Street Journal. I’m not sure how long the record will stand in the Age of Obama, but it’s hard to dispute that the bill under construction takes the cake for the moment.
What about “the environment”? In the name of “the environment,” Mark Steyn observes in an excellent column for Macleans, the state gets to regulate everything you do. “The cap-and-trade bill recently passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, for example,” Mark writes, “is a bold assault on property rights: in order to sell your home–whether built in 2006 or 1772–you would have to bring it into compliance with whimsical, eternally evolving national ‘energy efficiency’ standards, starting with a 50 per cent reduction in energy use by 2018. Fail to do so and it would be illegal for you to enter into a private contract with a willing buyer.”
Before the advent of the modern environmental movement, Bill Buckley used to assert with a glint in his eye that a liberal is someone who wants to reach into your shower and adjust the temperature of the water. The liberals’ environmental agenda has brought Buckley’s satirical thrust uncomfortably close to reality.
UPDATE: A reader points out that Mark may be exercising some poetic license with respect to the applicability of energy efficiency standards to existing homes. I’m not going to take the time to sort out the facts on this point. Given the fact that the liberal environmental mania has driven the government literally into the toilet, the accuracy of Mark’s general observations is unassailable.