Roper: Green Police will ‘break your will’

By Rob Roper

So, the Vermont Climate Council, established by the Global Warming Solutions Act passed last year, has started their work in how to figure out the ways in which Vermont can reduce its greenhouse gas emission to 80% below 1990 levels by the year 2050. It’s a daunting task. some would say impossible — others would say impossible and a useless gesture in virtue signaling that will accomplish nothing at great expense.

But on January 25th the council took testimony from officials in other states who have started down similar emissions reduction paths. One of them was David Ismay, Undersecretary for Climate Change in Massachusetts. To his credit, Ismay called for humility on the part of the council, hinting strongly that they might not actually be able to achieve their goals, noting many very serious obstacles to success. But Ismay’s description of what the real goal of climate change policy is, is troubling.

Ismay said:

So let me say that again, 60% of our emissions that need to be reduced come from you, the person across the street, the senior on fixed income, right, there is no bad guy left, at least in Massachusetts, to point the finger at, to turn the screws on, and you know, break their will, so they stop emitting. That’s you. We have to break your will. Right, I can’t even say that publicly.”

Well, say it publicly he did! And there you have it. In a supposedly free society, is it really the role of government to “break the will” of bad guy Vermont senior citizens on fixed incomes trying to heat their homes in February? We would say not.

Rob Roper is president of the Ethan Allen Institute. Reprinted with permission from the Ethan Allen Institute Blog.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons/Erum Patel

20 thoughts on “Roper: Green Police will ‘break your will’

  1. So, how and when do we get together to fight back as citizens united for freedom, rights, opportunities and individual empowerment?

  2. Let your feet do the walking, sooner or later realism will set in. Why put up with grief, makes one’s life shorter. This article pertains to NY businesses. NY’ers are walking and to VT which I believe will make VT worse do to their mentality. Use this article as an example, taxes, regulations, control, legislative stupidity will not change until Montpelier has a complete overhaul. In the meantime—–

    NYC restaurateurs flock to Miami for relaxed COVID-19 rules
    https://nypost.com/2021/02/08/nyc-restauranteurs-flock-to-miami-for-relaxed-covid-19-rules/?utm_source=maropost&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nypdaily&utm_content=20210209&tpcc=morning_report&mpweb=755-9277019-720767671

  3. What’s really troubling about Mass Under Secretary of Climate Change David Ismay is that he is the type of witness the GWSA Council choses to call for advice to set policy in Vermont.

    This guy is so bad that he’s even in the doghouse of his boss, Mass Governor Charlie Baker, for his stupid remarks and the Mass GOP wants him fired. See:

    https://www.bostonherald.com/2021/02/08/massgop-calls-for-130k-massachusetts-climate-official-to-resign/

    Now what other moronic and arrogant witnesses is the GWSA Council calling on for advice? Advice that will substantially impact every person in Vermont?……..It’s time for Gov. Scott to take the Chair of the Council aside and let her know what his leadership expectations are for the Council…….And you can bet that “Breaking the will of the people” is not an expectation.

  4. I read Nelson Mandela’s autobiography, and in there somewhere, someone states that “The oppressor dictates the the response.” i.e. however brutal the oppressor is the response will be at least as brutal.

  5. Michael Crichton wrote a novel in 2004 entitled “State Of Fear” which ends up being an exposition of the dangers of “politicized science”. As are the other stories by Crichton (Jurassic Park, Westworld, Prey, etc.), it is a riveting thriller centered around the “science” of global warming. The listing of resources at the conclusion of the novel is very eye-opening. It should be required reading for David Ismay, John Kerry, Greta Thunberg, et al.

    • Creighton’s book isn’t only about the politicization of the climate change issue but the blatant fraud of those involved with it as they justify funding their own programs vested in the climate movement. Crony Climatism. State of Fear is a great read.

  6. It was this same thinking that caused the demise of VT Yankee under Shummy. It is this same thinking that is the cause of coolness to Hydro Quebec, a supplier of the cheapest power, Green at that, in the area and no pollution. Will outlast the solar panels for the forseeable future. Their plan is all about control of the populace, and money. PERIOD.
    The people rising up to counter this non-sense is the only way out. They have the numbers to pass anything they want to. Unless the resistance resists, it is just a matter of time.

  7. The paradox, of course, is that the ‘Left’ (for lack of a better term) has corrupted this very same logic to justify their actions to. For any individual to be allowed to live by their own devices, as specified by the 5th Amendment, threatens the very logic and justification of the Left’s imposed collective. This is why the ‘Left’ (the New World Order, the Great Reset, call it what you will) is attacking the U.S. Constitution as an illegitimate construct based on slavery and white supremacy, when, in fact, it is just the opposite.

    If the ‘Left’ succeeds, conflict and subservience is inevitable.

  8. Unelected, unaccountable, woke, Progressive Democrat Socialist, virtue signalers …. when will they ever learn. Mother Earth won’t get you to heaven – energy is warmth. As base-load energy sources are phased out in favor of part-time renewables, grid reliability suffers. Is the VCC so obtuse as to not know that without base-load producers, there simply is not enough energy to sufficiently supply the grid at all times of day, no matter how many solar or wind facilities get tacked on? Keeping a well-functioning grid that provides everyVermonter with power on demand requires substantial base-load power capacity. While intermittent renewables like wind and solar can make good supplements, they cannot provide for the energy needs of modern society alone. Nor should the be mandated.

    • The Socialists believe they can ration the amount of energy used through (1) controlling what is produced (by controlling the means of production) and (2) rationing the amount of energy distributed into homes and businesses. The latter is the reason for wanting all electric vehicles. Once the power source is centralized, it can be monitored and rationed.

  9. RATIONAL ALTERNATIVE FOR VERMONT INSTEAD OF GWSA

    California: California has had a GWSA law since 2006, which resulted in:

    – Rapid increases of electric rates and gasoline prices
    – Huge DUCK-curves, due to midday solar electricity surges
    – Unwise/untimely/political/ideological shutdown of gas plants, which resulted in rolling blackouts, when, during a multi-day heat wave, solar disappearing in late-afternoon/early-evening (DURING PEAK HOURS), and not reappearing until mid-morning THE NEXT DAY, while all that time wind was minimal.
    – A host of rules, regulations, taxes, fees and surcharges, and penalties to enforce behavior modification programs

    With high levels of weather-dependent wind and solar, huge storage (multiple TWh) would be required.
    That storage would cost several trillion dollars, if materials could be found to build such capacity. It would need to cover:

    1) Single and multi-day heat waves over large areas
    2) Multi-day wind/solar lulls throughout the year, as frequently occur in New England
    3) Short-term and seasonal variations.

    The ADDITIONAL environmental impact on millions of acres with wind and solar systems, would be enormous all over the US.

    It would be much better to build millions of PASSIVHAUS-style buildings all over the US.
    They would need only 1/3 the energy of the current energy hogs.

    https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/the-vagaries-of-solar-in-new-england
    http://www.truenorthreports.com/welcome-to-hell-says-california-policy-expert-where-global-warming-solutions-act-passed-in-2006

    Vermont: For Vermont, the only thing that makes any sense is to stop “emulating” California.
    Vermont should immediately scrap GWSA, and concentrate on:

    1) Energy conservation
    2) Energy efficiency
    3) Building net-zero-energy, and energy-surplus houses and other buildings, by the thousands, each year. See Appendix
    4) Provide incentives to buy vehicles that get more than 35 mpg, EPA combined; the more above the limit, the greater the incentive.
    5) Charge annual fees, paid at time of registration, on existing and new vehicles that get less than 25 mpg, EPA combined; the more below the limit, the greater the fee.

    The above 4 items would save money for Vermonters, and make the state economy more competitive
    Most of the other energy measures are just expensively subsidized hogwash and behavior modifications that would not make one iota of difference regarding climate change.

  10. The inherent enemy of individual liberty and freedom is government over-reach. And the U.S. Constitution was expressly created to protect individual rights in that regard. Federalist Paper #10 expressly warns us against the tyranny of governmental factions, i.e. ‘the mob’.

    Most tyrannies begin with the false narrative that the government was created to protect individuals… because individuals can’t protect themselves. Specifically, that individuals can’t defend themselves from their own ignorance and inability.

    Never mind that ‘the government’ is a group of individuals asserting their elitist superiority in the first place.

    Citizens acting as individuals, characterized as incompetent fools by the government mob, are being fed propaganda promoting Critical Race Theory (e.g. the 1619 Project), Climate Change efficacy and Income Inequality (now called ‘income equity’). These false dichotomies are designed to neutralize the one remaining protection we individuals have in our pursuit of life, liberty and happiness – The U.S. Constitution. This tyrannical movement is otherwise known as the ‘Great Reset’.

    We are just that close to losing our freedom and, quite frankly, I’m not sure how to stop the tyranny, -except, as an individual, while they may break my body, I will refuse to let anyone ‘break my will’ – ever.

    • “We were the first to assert that the more complicated the forms assumed by civilization, the more restricted the freedom of the individual must become.” – Benito Mussolini

    • “–That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it,…”

      • Those who force this tyranny upon the people,completely disregard the reset clause, in their rush to force their will upon this state and nation.
        What they also forgot is they serve at the will and pleasure of the people, they are the peoples servant and the people the master. The Leftist mindset makes no pretense that they think they know better than their masters, the people and as with everything else,someday the pendulum will swing in the opposite direction.

      • The paradox, of course, is that the ‘Left’ (for lack of a better term) has corrupted this very same logic to justify their actions to. For any individual to be allowed to live by their own devices, as specified by the 5th Amendment, threatens the very logic and justification of the Left’s imposed collective. This is why the ‘Left’ (the New World Order, the Great Reset, call it what you will) is attacking the U.S. Constitution as an illegitimate construct based on slavery and white supremacy, when, in fact, it is just the opposite.

        If the ‘Left’ succeeds, conflict and subservience is inevitable.

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