I Want The Federal Government Out Of My House

Didn't we kill a whole lot of British once upon a time for something analogous to this?

Cap and trade is back in the news. By the end of this month, Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) is expected to unveil new legislation along the lines of the Waxman-Markey bill, which passed the House on June 26.

That bill contains 397 new regulations. One of them would affect almost everyone who buys or sells a home. If Waxman-Markey becomes law, homes for sale that qualify as “federally related transactions” — which is almost all of them — would be required to undergo an environmental inspection.

Many politicians are upset about depressed housing prices. And true, environmental inspections are one way to raise them. But this is not the way to do it. Sen. Boxer should see to it that the Senate version of cap and trade leaves the environmental inspection provision out.

Inspections are not free. Nor is fixing the inevitable violations. Compliance with new energy-efficiency standards would make homes, especially older ones, more expensive. Selling one’s home would become even harder than it already is in this down market if Waxman-Markey-style cap and trade becomes law.

QandO sees it this way:

Suppose you wanted to sell your house “as is” and let the person who buys it fix it up, for a suitable discount of course.

That is no longer a choice you’ll have. The buyer and seller wouldn’t be allowed to make that decision anymore. The party that continuously claims that “choice” is important to them apparently believe that particular choice is one neither the buyer or seller should have. The transaction is subject to the regulations of Mr. Waxman and Mr. Markey’s bill and you’ll not sell anything government inspectors haven’t deemed “green” enough to sell and certified as such.

Nothing, of course, could go wrong with that, could it? And of course, the article deals with just one of the unintended consequences. Let me again point out that it includes 397 new regulations – that means there’s at least one unintended consequence for each of them (and possibly more) and it will most likely be a nasty surprise.

This is yet another example of governmental over-reach into the lives of ordinary citizens. I use such language deliberately. We are living in an age of a new elected (and unelected) nobility, which sees itself as the intellectual and moral superior of the general citizenry. The vast number of Americans are deemed by the Democrats (and many Republicans for that matter) to be nothing but sheep that need to be led by shepherds - benevolent of course - who will control ever increasing amounts of their lives for their own good.

To be fair, Obama never really hid his desire to control the minutia of our lives up to and including what temperature we set our thermostats to in our own homes. Now, we will be legally unable to sell our own property unless the Democrats deem it politically correct to do so.

Oh, and remember, we're not allowed to call them socialists. That's name calling.