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The Real Reason the Left Is Banning Gas-Powered Cars

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.
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AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool, File

Last summer, California Governor Gavin Newsom issued a directive to his wealthy constituents not to plug in their electric vehicles. It was an emergency. The grid was overloading, and if EVs weren't taken off their chargers, the system would melt down. For many, this meant being effectively stranded, but they still had the option to call a gas-powered Uber for a ride.

The plea to unplug, a regular and repeated occurrence each summer, came at the same time Newsom signed a new rule to outlaw all gas-powered vehicles by 2035. 

"We can solve this climate crisis if we focus on the big, bold steps necessary to cut pollution. California now has a groundbreaking, world-leading plan to achieve 100 percent zero-emission vehicle sales by 2035," Newsom declared in a statement, calling on other states and the federal government to follow his lead. "This plan's yearly targets — 35 percent ZEV sales by 2026, 68 percent by 2030, and 100 percent by 2035 — provide our road map to reducing dangerous carbon emissions and moving away from fossil fuels."

To put it bluntly, these directives for change are suicidal — especially given politicians like Newsom know how quickly the grid gets overwhelmed. 

To the contrary, Elon Musk, the creator of the most successful electric car company in the world, warns that the United States — not to mention the rest of the globe — isn't ready for a rapid transition to electric. 

"Realistically, I think we need to use oil and gas in the short term because otherwise, civilization will crumble," Musk said last fall during a conference in Norway. "One of the biggest challenges the world has ever faced is the transition to sustainable energy and to a sustainable economy. That will take some decades to complete."

In addition, Americans can't afford the move, and the sales numbers at car dealerships across the country prove it. How will regular people get to work when their affordable, gas-powered vehicles are illegal or no longer available for purchase and repair? 

"Only 19% of U.S. adults say it's 'very' or 'extremely' likely they would purchase an electric vehicle the next time they buy a car, according to the poll, and 22% say it's somewhat likely. About half — 47% — say it's not likely they would go electric," a recent survey from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago shows. "Six in 10 said the high cost is a major reason they wouldn't and about a quarter cited it as a minor reason. Only 16% said the high cost would not be a factor in rejecting the EV."

Musk is right. Civilization will crumble without oil and gas, so why are the Biden administration and their globalist, elite allies trying to accelerate the collapse? If U.S. infrastructure isn't capable of handling the switch to electric, and Americans can't afford to buy electric cars, how is this new and alternative utopia going to come to fruition?

To critically thinking people, these facts don't logically add up to a good faith effort to save the environment. Instead, it raises red flags about the true intention of the rapid shift. This is especially true given those who are pushing the shift most aggressively. John Kerry and Bill Gates, for example, aren't changing their own habits of private jet use, SUVs and luxury, living in mansions or ornate government buildings. So what's going on here? 

Catastrophes enable government control. Look no further than the recent COVID-19 pandemic, which was extended for years by bureaucrats and politicians interested in exercising power over the population as long as possible, for proof. The coming government-inflicted mobility crisis will be similar to the pandemic response, with directives about who can work, when, how long, where they can travel, whether you really need to travel to church and much more. A lack of gas-powered vehicles means forced reliance on public transportation. It will cripple life in rural America, forcing moves into the cities. Social credit scores regarding travel, like the ones we're already seeing when purchasing airline tickets, will certainly be implemented.

The government-mandated move to electric vehicles has nothing to do with the environment and everything to do with the left's vision for America: tyrannical government control. Time will tell if the country is willing to go along with it. 

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