The Dark Ages were accompanied by darkness (obviously), cold, poverty, starvation, plague and depredation. The world became smaller and feudal. Infrastructure collapsed. Everyone suffered, but especially the poor. It\u2019s pretty much what the Democrats are doing to America today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let\u2019s start with the \u201cDark New Deal.\u201d The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), which is overseen by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC),\u00a0made clear\u00a0a few days ago that Americans should prepare for unprecedented electric power failures and blackouts this year. A supposed 21st century, \u201cadvanced\u201d country that cannot support the predictable energy needs of its nation? Now that is primitive and a colossal failure of government.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The problem is obvious to everyone except the White House and Democratic state governments. Energy policies that precipitously shut down traditional energy sources and rush toward unreliable, unsupported \u201cnew\u201d energy sources wreck our economy and society. Suddenly there were blackouts throughout California and the state was forced to\u00a0import energy\u00a0from neighboring states because of what\u00a0the governor\u00a0called \u201cunreliable solar and wind power.\u201d Yet the state continues to shut down nuclear and fossil fuel plants and rush toward \u201crenewables.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the same time, Sacramento pushes one of the most resource-rich and car-dependent states in the country to\u00a0$7-a-gallon gasoline. The objective, of course, is to force people to stop using fossil fuel-powered cars and buy very expensive electric cars, or just walk or ride bikes, or not travel. The related objective, of course, is to force people to use electric power at home or simply to have hotter homes in the summer and colder homes in the winter. Variations of these plans are copied throughout the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The problem is that these plans will never get America to a \u201cnet-zero emissions economy\u201d \u2014 unless progressives really intend a \u201cnet-zero economy,\u201d i.e., complete economic collapse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The central flaw is that progressives are far too impatient and are willfully ignorant of energy economics. For example, they fail to understand that fossil fuels and nuclear power are \u201cnature\u2019s batteries.\u201d They store the vast amounts of energy that a modern industrial economy and society use, when and where they need it. Conversely, solar and wind are not batteries. They do not always produce energy when and where it\u2019s needed, and they are far from producing enough energy to support America\u2019s needs. And America lacks the batteries to store energy from solar and wind to access it when the sun\u2019s not shining and the wind\u2019s not blowing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Specifically, to achieve a net-zero economy that operated by today\u2019s standards would require 90 quads of utility-level\u00a0battery storage capacity\u00a0\u2014 today America has around nine quads. To fully electrify the American economy would require doubling, dramatically upgrading, and \u201chardening\u201d the electric grid. It requires simply ignoring the limited lifespan and environmental degradation from the mining and use of modern battery materials. And it will take a minimum of 30 years or more to solve these problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the meantime, \u201cnet-zero\u201d politics leads to blackouts \u2014 net-zero light, net-zero heat, net-zero cooling, net-zero transportation to work or shopping, net-zero vacations, and huge spikes in energy prices. The Dark New Deal means a collapsing, net-zero economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition, these ideas will destroy America\u2019s national security but have no positive impact on the environment. China, Russia, Iran and North Korea will\u00a0continue to burn coal\u00a0and have no intention of going net-zero. We will \u2014\u00a0we do\u00a0\u2014 beg our enemies for fossil fuels that we could produce ourselves. As America\u2019s economy and ability to defend itself declines, our enemies\u2019 will not. Our way of life may be destroyed long before we reach net-zero emissions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the meantime, of course, the Democrats\u2019 utopian dreams are hurting America\u2019s middle class and poor the most. Skyrocketing gasoline prices; skyrocketing home heating, cooling and cooking costs; and skyrocketing food and commodity prices, driven by production and transportation costs of energy, are destroying poor families. All this is happening at the same time that open-border immigration policies are taking away lower-paying job opportunities and diluting the voting power of poor citizens. And, of course, federal spending-driven\u00a0inflation\u00a0is creating a huge new \u201ctax\u201d on all Americans, which is falling most heavily on the poor.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And all this will simply increase the level of urban crime and violence, disproportionately hurting the poor and middle-class Americans, and putting the Democrats\u2019 continuing war on the police in high relief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Is it little wonder that the Democrats are hemorrhaging\u00a0Black and Hispanic voters? Who would ever support the progressives\u2019 cultural suicide pact?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cProgressive\u201d Americans fancy themselves as highly educated and civilized. The sonorous NPR and shrill CNN tell them so. But rushing into a complete overhaul of the American economy and society without any plan at all \u2014 a visual metaphor: the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan \u2014 is mindless and primitive. It is just willful anarchy.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For a time, the progressive battle cries (free money, free health care, free energy, free fill-in-the-blank) represented an effective formula for political power in selected parts of the country, e.g., California, the Northeast, Chicago. Never mind that these very formulations have never worked anywhere in the world. But now, with blackouts looming and $5- to $7-a-gallon gasoline, the curtain is parting and reality is setting in. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
To build the country everyone wants requires careful planning and sound economics and should not casually crush America\u2019s poor and middle-class families in the process.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Dark Ages were accompanied by darkness (obviously), cold, poverty, starvation, plague and depredation. The