H.R. 2454: American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 will result in a totalitarian centralization of the American economy in the administrative agencies of the federal government, especially the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This 1,300 page horror is a prime example of congressional modus operandi — no one in Congress actually had the opportunity to read the bill which was, incidentally, being amended as it was debated on the floor. As H.R. 2454 shows, this axiom still holds true: the more benign the title of a congressional bill, the more draconian its contents. After all, who could be against clean energy or security? The real goal of H.R. 2454 has nothing to do with either of these; it is a power grab, pure and simple.
While we have all heard much about the tax implications of H.R. 2454 and that every American family could see a $3,000 a year increase in their energy costs, H.R. 2454 does much more than that. H.R. 2454 is a fascistic fait accompli, giving the government expansive powers to regulate, subsidize, and tax more sectors of the economy. The bill authorizes more federal government control over the electrical grid, state and local building codes, lighting and appliances, industry, the financial markets, and, perhaps most ominously of all, the health care system. In addition, it includes wealth redistribution measures and would allow increases in foreign aid.
Part of the rhetoric surrounding H.R. 2454 is that it will help break America’s dependency on foreign oil by encouraging development of renewable energy sources. Most likely, the opposite will happen as oil companies “cope with U.S. carbon legislation by closing fuel plants, cutting capital spending and increasing imports.”
Ironically, cap and trade — the cornerstone of H.R. 2454 — does not protect the environment! Even Greenpeace opposed H.R. 2454, recognizing that it “chooses politics over science.” While I would argue that the science to which Greenpeace refers is dubious at best, there is no question that H.R. 2454 has put politics above all else.
In a cap and trade system, the government deems a certain level of pollution acceptable as long as the polluter pays a tax. That’s like saying that it’s acceptable for someone to throw trash on your lawn so long as he has bought a government permit. Even worse, he can throw even more trash on your lawn if he buys additional permits from someone who refrains from throwing trash on your lawn. In effect, cap and trade legalizes pollution.
Advocates of cap and trade have used tortured logic to portray it as a market based system. James Boyce, an economist at the University of Massachusetts, claims that “this is the biggest creation and allocation of property rights since the Homestead Act.” This statement is false on its face and falls into the realm of fantasy.
Unlike the Homestead Act which dealt with property that actually existed in the real world, the property rights to which Boyce refers have been created exclusively through government edit. There is no such thing as a “carbon credit” except on a bureaucrat’s spreadsheet. Boyce’s statement turns the concept of property rights — the basis of a free society — on its head. The “right” to pollute is not a form of property, it is a government granted privilege.
No one has a “right” to have clean air and water provided for them at someone else’s expense. But no one should have the “right” to pollute air or water that he does not own. Far from creating a new form of property rights, cap and trade undermines the property rights that we own in our own bodies by granting polluters the legal privilege of polluting resources that they do not own and that we put into our bodies, i.e. air and water.
Litigation (in the cases where harm has come to individuals) and a strict respect for property rights offer much more effective ways of dealing with pollution than regulation does.
True environmentalists — those of us who are concerned about things such as clean air and water — should oppose schemes like H.R. 2454. H.R. 2454 is not designed to clean up the environment. It is designed to generate more revenue for the government and to give the government more power over the economy, our lives, and our freedom. And it does so at the expense of the environment.
July 1st, 2009 at 5:13 am
Watch ron paul rip the cap and trade bill a new one
http://newstheylose.blogspot.c.....-bill.html
“On the altar of God, I swear eternal hostility against all forms of tyranny over the mind of man.”–Thomas Jefferson
“Tyranny cannot defeat the power of ideas.” helen keller
Captain Papadoo Reply:
July 1st, 2009 at 10:30 am
WERE IS THE COMMITTEE TO IMPEACH OBAMA!!!????
THEY NEED TO GET OFF THEIR ASSES AND DO IT!!!
leannain Reply:
July 1st, 2009 at 6:01 pm
We need to impeach all of them. Its time for recall elections
kebcreation Reply:
July 1st, 2009 at 10:38 am
Woe be to those that tip the scales in deceit. These atheist elites got a surprise coming in the end. I would rather starve than be in their shoes.
pitofdoom Reply:
July 1st, 2009 at 12:07 pm
You may well get your wish!
Fed Up Reply:
July 1st, 2009 at 4:03 pm
what does atheism have to do with any of this? Good grief.
July 1st, 2009 at 5:15 am
Taxation without representation!
Any law passed, without reading it first, should be considered CRIMINAL, and thus, NULL AND VOID!
Patriot Act, null and void.
Bailout, null and void.
Cap and Trade, null and void.
If the elected officials don’t read a damn bill, the American people should not be forced to comply to it.
This equals laws being passed by decree and thus, not a republic, but a dictatorship / Fascist hybrid.
pitofdoom Reply:
July 1st, 2009 at 9:48 am
We’re not even in that good of shape!!
NavyVet Reply:
July 1st, 2009 at 11:52 am
We have got a ‘ ship of fools ‘ running the government. I’d rather pay them their damn salary and send them home. The hell with any more legislation. We have too much already. The Federal Goverment has so far outstepped the bounds of the Constitution that it is unbelievable. This crap about attaching all kinds of other things to bills to get items passed should be considered criminal.
pitofdoom Reply:
July 1st, 2009 at 12:09 pm
America’s Titanic II running into the iceburg called Wisdom!
The elect sail away as “We the people” ask what’s that sucking sound?
Glen Reply:
July 1st, 2009 at 8:05 pm
That analogy only works if you assume the captain of the titanic knew the iceburg was there and steered towards it. What’s worse is the people are already neck deep in water and still haven’t asking why the lights went out or the deck is tilted.
July 1st, 2009 at 7:56 am
CAP ON TRADE is what it is really about. Now that all corperations have abondended us, and we all consume slave produced commie crap, they will now place a cap on what we can produce (per emissions) and make the usa unable to compete in any global marketplace.
Any pollution sceme must be embrqaced by the planet or it is simply another tool to opress the citizens of the usa and to stop any attempt at wealth building for future generations.
July 1st, 2009 at 8:10 am
This goes way beyond mere fraud and excessive taxation. This is a way for psychopathic eugenicists to execute their plan of world population reduction — that is to, GENOCIDE — while claiming all the while they’re doing it to “save the Earth.”
July 1st, 2009 at 8:13 am
http://www.thegrandawakening.com/index.html
This is now a hard tyrannical takeover…see more here at:
http://www.thegrandawakening.com/index.html
July 1st, 2009 at 8:39 am
Jacobs needs to retire from wrestling – before he “mysteriously” dies in an “accident” like Owen Hart…wouldn’t surprise me if McMahon put out a hit on Owen – and run for political office.
Ron Paul/Glenn Jacobs 2012!
July 1st, 2009 at 9:10 am
When I’m emperor there will be many fewer government jobs and many more big, heavy shovels and thick, cotton gloves for those who lose those jobs. They can dig a really, really deep hole to hold a “what was I thinking” time capsule, amusing future generations and giving, therefore, the lie to the notion that they were useless.
July 1st, 2009 at 9:33 am
Thank you KANE for stepping into the fray and writing truth to power. Thank you for taking time from your busy schedule to actually involve youself in matters of utmost importance when most people are so self absorbed they’ve become apathetic.
Hopefully KANE will appear on the Alex Jones Show in the near future. Down with Climate Bills, Cap & Trade and Carbon Taxes. Down with the New World Order.
July 1st, 2009 at 9:47 am
Your NWO FEMA camp carbon sequestered dead ass is worth how many Al Gore credits?
July 1st, 2009 at 9:54 am
Thank You KANE! Thank you for stepping up to the plate, when most are apathetic sleeple. Thank you for taking time from you busy life to fight for Liberty and Freedom from tyranny.
Hopefully you can appear on the Alex Jones Show someday soon.
Down with Climate Change Legislation, Down with Cap and Trade, Down with Carbon Taxes, and Down with the New World Order.
God bless Alex Jones, and please everyone PRAY for him, as the beast prepares to attack him once again.
Stay stron Jones, don your armour of God, and the shield of faith. Fear not, for what can MAN do to you?
July 1st, 2009 at 9:54 am
The next propaganda campaign with sad little animals crying across the screen:
The planet need’s your help, please stop it’s destruction, save the Earth.
Please find desolate location, dig hole, crawl in and back fill, do your part!
As you leave know the planet Thanks you!!
For those of you at a FEMA camp, Al Gore thanks you for the extra carbon credit!
Fed Up Reply:
July 1st, 2009 at 6:20 pm
“For those of you at a FEMA camp, Al Gore thanks you for the extra carbon credit!”
….so that Gore-the-hypocrite can maintain his 22x-the-average-power-usage mansion.
July 1st, 2009 at 10:34 am
Dan W from AshizAshiz here:
2 things:
1. We need to consider a non-violent movement of NON-cooperation as a route toward attempting to shift the paradigm. http://ashizashiz.blogspot.com…..ation.html
2. I am running for Peter Welch’s seat for Congress in 2010.
http://weintraub2010.com
July 1st, 2009 at 12:31 pm
Begining on the 4th of July
Find out who your friends are
Organise together
And let the armed resistance begin.
Drag all NWO supporting scum from their offices, homes, vehicles and execute them
WE NEED NAMES, HOME ADDRESES, OFFICE ADDRESES, VEHICLE MAKES & LICENCE PLATES
July 1st, 2009 at 12:40 pm
CAP and TRADE Will Create Companies TOO BIG TO FAIL
So what’s the real scoop? Find out from those who “shaped” the Bill.
http://pacificgatepost.blogspo.....r-cap.html
July 1st, 2009 at 2:12 pm
they will make this country a To-orist country.
Look at the pretty canyon.
July 1st, 2009 at 2:52 pm
Boyce’s statement is correct. He is confirming that the government will own the air and will grant it to whomever they deem a proper recipient.
No soup(air) for you, Seinfeld!!!!
July 1st, 2009 at 8:06 pm
The world will look a lot different when you get out of prison/slave-labor-camp.
July 1st, 2009 at 8:51 pm
Don’t believe this is not a tax on those making under $250,000 and 95% of Americans will not get taxed. Everything this bill touches will go down the FOOD chain. Gas, electricity, food, products and services. Everything will go up, but it’s not a tax on you. Not to mention man made climate change is a myth.
http://animal-farm.us/change/m.....-trade-491