President Joe Biden, a man who frequently touts “the science”—but, it’s rather evident, would be unlikely to do better than a “D” on a high school chemistry or physics test—has placed a civilizational-level bet on the electric car.
(Pop Quiz, Joe Biden: What’s the second law of thermodynamics? Biden: Thermodynamics? I love that company! Are we in Philadelphia? Great city!)
It’s almost as if the current occupant of the White House worships the electric car in a fashion bordering on idolatrous. Without the slightest apparent thought, he destroyed U.S. energy independence and is threatening worldwide economic collapse on its behalf.
Indeed, the electric car is Biden’s “golden calf.”
He should get down on his knees and pray to a Tesla. With inflation at 8.6 percent, the highest in 40 years, he’s going to need some divine help.
But someone might want to explain to Biden the reality of electric cars—if indeed he’s capable of comprehending it. For that someone, I would nominate Bjorn Lomborg—the Danish author and president of the think tank Copenhagen Consensus Center—who has been perhaps the world’s most esteemed climate journalist for decades.
That’s a bit complicated for Joe, I know. Better for him to continue to worship the “golden Tesla” (embarrassing as that might be since Elon Musk has switched to the Republican Party). But let’s hear from Lomborg himself. I’ve excerpted for brevity:
“What didn’t emerge until much later—although it was no secret in the motor industry or among government officials—was that diesel cars also emitted greater quantities of other pollutants, nitrogen oxides, and particulates that damage air quality and human health.
“What it fails to tell us, however, is that electric cars are not the answer for many people, for a host of practical reasons. These include their upfront cost, limited range, the time it takes to charge batteries, the new infrastructure needed for charging points, and the extra power required to supply them.
“Even more alarmingly, a report in the journal Nature suggests that because electric cars are heavier than other vehicles, they will likely kill more occupants of other vehicles in traffic accidents.”
As I said, this is only a sampling of Lomborg’s devastating report. I would highly recommend reading the whole thing, especially to those—almost exclusively rich people—who assume their purchase of an electric car is “doing something for humanity.” Rather, it’s the equivalent of riding to an environmental conference in a private jet; in other words, it’s moral narcissism at its most repugnant.
The story of the “golden calf” is one of the Old Testament’s most memorable for good reason. The worship of false gods has been a constant in human history and is all around us now—not just in the area of electric cars.
The great purveyor of “golden calves” (plural deliberately) is, of course, the media. Very few of us are honest and reliable: One of those, over the years, has been Lomborg. He believes that some “global warming” has been occurring, but understands that solar and wind, as of now, aren’t the solution and may never be. He sees the Paris Climate Agreement as the opportunistic boondoggle that it obviously is and even more how it favors rich countries over poor. China, of course, will ignore the agreement even as it signs on.
All of this seems pretty simple, while at the same time being above the head of the simpleton in the White House and his nefarious advisers. Sometime, rather soon, I suspect it will be different.
The wandering Hebrews, after all, eventually abandoned the golden calf.
Friends Read Free