And Then They Came for Your Gas-Powered Car

The Biden administration is rolling out new emissions regulations that the New York Times says will “transform the American automobile market.”

There is a well-known quote by Martin Niemöller, a German theologian and Lutheran pastor who became a leader against the Nazification of churches in Germany during the rise of Hitler.

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

I share the quote, which I first heard as a child, because it carries a powerful lesson. Oftentimes people fail to stand up to power and oppose genuine injustice because it doesn’t affect them directly.

The federal government’s crusade against climate change has been tolerated because its costs—though immense—have been widely dispersed. Few Americans have seen their own lives significant impacted by many of these regulations.

That is changing, as I explain in my latest piece in The Daily Economy.