Department of Energy déjà vu: Jennifer Granholm comes for the ceiling fans, for the

There are few things (if any?) I resent more than the Nanny State, and I either lack the vocabulary, or maybe there aren’t enough words, to faithfully articulate the depth of that indignation.

Freon has been banned; the light bulb “rule” finally hit; they’re working to “phase out” gas stoves via regulatory strangleholds; and now the climate bureaucrats have their sights set on the next target: ceiling fans.  From Rick Moran at PJ Media:

The DOE announced the exciting news this past week that consumers would save between $28 and $39 over the life of a ceiling fan on energy costs.

I have to add, though (assuming those dollar amounts are even correct), that the savings can be calculated only based on the current cost of energy, and the current value of the American dollar.

Don’t get any hare-brained ideas, though!  This isn’t about tyranny; it’s pure altruism!  Bureaucracy is unequivocally a nonpartisan exercise, with Republicans and Democrats alike joining forces to do what’s best for “the consumer,” so clearly, it’s about people over party…or is it?

Of course, that’s rhetorical.  It’s not Republican versus Democrat, or liberal versus conservative; it’s the people against an ever-expanding establishment, or American constitutionalists against unthinking slippery-slope moderates.

As Moran also reported:

Meanwhile, Republicans on the Small Business Committee are questioning the wisdom of rules that will save consumers pennies a year but very well might cost thousands of jobs as some small ceiling fan manufacturers are likely to go out of business. They sent a letter to Jennifer Granholm inquiring about the new regulations.

Gee, another letter… 

I get it — we aren’t a nation of thinkers, due in large part to academia and the television, but the poverty of intellect may prove to be deadly.  In a statement to Fox News, the DOE said:

These proposed standards … would save hardworking taxpayers up to $369 million per year, while substantially reducing harmful air pollution — a crucial fact that some have conveniently failed to mention.

Where’s the line in the sand between “reducing air pollution” and democide?  After all, by their own measure, humans are the greatest polluters, so…what comes next?

Now, this really is déjà vu, in more ways than one.  In May, I wrote a blog on the DOE coming for the dishwashers, and I opened with this:

With some creative license, Martin Niemöller’s famous prose can be remade into something silly but fitting for our contemporary reality:

First they came for the incandescent light bulbs but I did not speak out, because I am a virtue-signaling leftist.

Then they came for the freon but I did not speak out, because I am a virtue-signaling leftist.

Then they came for the gas stoves but I did not speak out, because I am a virtue-signaling leftist.

Then they came for the dishwashers but I did not speak out, because I am a virtue-signaling leftist.

On and on ad nauseam; you get the point.

Now, of course, we can add “ceiling fans,” but “First They Came” could be reimagined yet again:

First they came for the anti-vaxxers, but I did not speak out, because I was not an anti-vaxxer.

Then they came for the climate deniers, but I did not speak out, because I was not a climate denier.

Then they came for the gun owners, but I did not speak out, because I was not a gun owner.

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

Image: Free image, Pixabay license, no attribution required.