Given a week for word to spread, the Trump Administration's May 9 announcement of what was headlined as a rollback of “water pressure standards” (i.e. mandates) on appliance-makers is beginning to reveal itself to many Americans as what it is: a wider withdrawal of many onerous so-called “standards” that increased costs to makers and buyers, restricted choice, assumed bureaucrats know better than market participants, and pushed an unconstitutional so-called “green” agenda that has no foundation in reality.
And, as J.D. Tucille reports for Reason, the “Presidential Memorandum” (not exactly an Executive Order, clearly not a piece of legislation, and really just a note, telling inferior bureaucratic agencies this is what he would like to see them do) could sow more fruitful seeds to reduce many other federal mandates. Tucille notes that the Memorandum…
"…directs the Secretary of Energy to ‘review and rescind—or revert to the minimum standards required by statute—rules that limit water use in showerheads, faucets, dishwashers, toilets, urinals, and washing machines,’ to clarify ‘the scope of federal preemption of state rules for water use’ in appliances, and to ‘pause enforcement [of any] rules mentioned in the memorandum until they are rescinded or revised.’ It also directs the Secretary of Energy to work with Congress to repeal intrusive laws that dictate water usage and efficiency standards to Americans.”
And, for many Americans, this is a positive move, a shift in the wicked winds fanned at us by Uncle Sam.
Tucille quotes well known economist Alex Tabarrok as one of the many diligent people who – like we at MRCTV – have tried to alert people to the economic drag this kind of attack on constitutionalism and freedom represents.
"’Why do today's dishwashers typically take more than 2 hours to run through a normal cycle when less than a hour was common in the past?’ George Mason University economics professor Alex Tabarrok wrote in January of 2024. ‘The reason is absurd energy and water 'conservation' rules. These rules, imposed on dish and clothes washers, have made these products perform worse than in the past, cleaning less well or much more slowly.’"
Which runs completely counter to what consumers in the market tell makers and sellers. As a rule, consumers tell makers they want more for less. They want better quality, greater availability, and lower costs and waste, and, often, they want variations of those attributes which market sellers and inventors compete to provide, leading to lower costs, greater availability, less need for resources, and greater living standards.
This, in turn, leaves consumers with savings, which can be invested in new, never-seen inventions and endeavors.
Instead of allowing us to decide what we want for our living standards and allowing us the freedom to exercise our rights to engage in freedom of association and exchange, U.S. administrations going back a century have engaged in command-and-control, diktat, fiat, fascism, and usurpation. They deem themselves greater than you, wiser, and nearly omniscient, blessed with the power to control the market and the makers, the sellers and the buyers.
Tucille reports that the Trump signals harmonize with important Congressional moves, pieces of legislation required to change the oppressive direction of the Bidenistas and former Congresses.
“Fortunately, Congress sent to the White House, and Trump signed, laws repealing Biden administration's energy conservation standards for commercial refrigerators and freezers, restrictions on gas-fired tankless water heaters, and an energy conservation program for appliances. In terms of freeing the market from government interference, these legislative changes come closer to permanence than presidential directives to executive agencies can by themselves.”
True, and all of these points hide within a much larger picture, one which we will explore as we conclude this report.
Related: Biden Energy Department Issues New Ban on Many Home Water Heaters
Tucille amplifies on his observations, noting the sea change within Congress:
"’From increasing the costs of refrigeration equipment used by small businesses to regulating reporting requirements for appliance manufacturers to banning gas-fired water heaters, the Biden-Harris Administration attempted to impose a far-left agenda that put Green New Deal-style policies ahead of the American people,’ commented Rep. Brett Guthrie (R–Ky.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, upon the signing of the bills into law.”
And Tucille reports that one of the major free-market think-tanks in D.C. is watching this closely:
“Responding specifically to Trump's executive action, Devin Watkins, attorney at the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), observed: ‘Federal limits on water and energy use have made appliances slower and less effective, frustrating consumers and limiting their choices. The water restrictions on dishwashers and clothes washers were found to violate the law by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, yet the Biden administration imposed them anyway. President Trump's new executive order marks a return to consumer choice—allowing Americans to purchase appliances that are faster, more effective, and better suited to their needs.’"
We are supposed to be able to recognize and define our needs. Sellers and entrepreneurs are supposed to be able to cater to our needs, competing with one another for our interest.
Instead, politicians and bureaucrats see us as just another ingredient in their collectivist recipes, mere chemicals to be mixed to their tyrannical taste. We are parts, cogs, in their great, o’ersweeping global machine. With our humanity stripped, with our liberty crushed, we are pieces to be moved according to their grand directives.
Which brings us to the final message in all of this.
There not only is no provision in the Constitution allowing the federal government to dictate shower heads or the “energy efficiency” of appliances, there not only is no provision allowing the feds to dictate to sellers what they peacefully might try to offer to us, to continue to run a “Department of Energy” or any other agency created through their deceptive reimagining of the Interstate Commerce Clause is offensive and immoral.
Most of all, even if the politicians amended that ruling framework and inserted new words to supposedly allow this kind of offensive, aggressive, activity, it would not be moral. It would be gangland action, with a piece of paper backing it. We have the right to be left alone. Period.
No one has a right to tell you what you can or cannot buy or sell. Buying or selling something is not an aggressive act. The act of aggression comes in the form of people in government issuing their edicts rather than entering the market to peacefully offer you something. But, just like government has done for centuries, they tell you they “protect you,” even as they are the ones engaging in threats.
Perhaps these changes will help more people see the force and aggression at the heart of all political expansions. And perhaps more people will push for peace and market exchange, instead.
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The pro-migrant media are having a meltdown over South Africans being flown to the US.
You don't hate the media enough. https://t.co/wSgE107FZs