by Milt Harris

February 10, 2024 - Let’s see: straws, plastic anything, gas powered anything, light bulbs, refrigerators, guns, diving boards, disposable diapers, charcoal grills, the nozzle on your hose and shower head to control your water consumption, the thermostat in your house to control the temperature at which you live, and now the tires on your car, so you can be unsafe when you drive but environmentally responsible in some mythical way.

In Washinton state, Democrats want to outlaw the most popular tires. House Bill 2262 intends to disrupt people’s lives by mandating low rolling resistance tires on all passenger vehicles. Of course, this tire ban, by eliminating the tires that everyone wants to use, punishes the innocent. If violated, it would subject people to a $10,000 fine per occurrence.

Like masks, these tires are nothing more than social theater. The tires aren’t safe in wet weather, something that the northwest has plenty of, and are also more expensive. They would also need to be swapped out during winter months for snow tires if traveling in areas with seasonal snowfall.

Naturally, Democrats could care less about the cost or the inconvenience. Even though this won’t be passed in this legislative session, their foot is in the door, and it won’t get shut out easily. The Left is masterful at wearing citizens down psychologically, presenting something as often as necessary until it is accepted as inevitable.

Another ploy of Democrat Socialists is to avoid confrontation in any way possible, including discussion or ballot. If changes like this can be added quietly to bills, very often an unsuspecting public passes them. In this case, Senator Marco Liias snuck the addendum into an unrelated vehicle bill without a public hearing or knowledge. This is nothing new in the woke playbook.

The worst part of all this is that these are nothing more than unsubstantiated, idealistic, woke fallacies. Governor Jay Inslee is the leader of this particular state’s environmental nightmare.

By his second term, Inslee’s regime had introduced specific proposals and initiatives to promote EVs, reduce carbon emissions, and invest in clean energy technologies. In his 2019 State of the State address, Inslee explicitly called for Washington to embrace clean energy and discussed the role of electric vehicles in the state’s environmental strategy.

The Clean Energy Transformation Act (CETA) was signed into law by Inslee in 2019. It mandates that Washington state’s electricity supply be carbon-neutral by 2030 and entirely carbon-free by 2045. While CETA primarily focuses on the electricity sector, the EV transition is integral in a broader strategy to reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions. The date citizens are supposed to be carbon-neutral is 2030, the year in this pipe dream that gas-powered cars can no longer be sold.

In case you haven’t noticed, everything about environmental restoration is all about sacrifice, without any promise of reward or even justification. For the people in an always wet and often snowy area, the current tires have served the people well. This is nothing more than a test of limitations. Will the public give up something they know and trust for a generated lie on the word of the government?

Naturally, those pushing this absurdity want the citizens to believe that swapping out their trusty treads for these environmental alternatives is a small price to pay for the planet. Guilt is their favorite playing card.

The truth is really very simple: there is no climate crisis. If you live in Washington state, keep the tires that have kept you safe on your car. This is nothing more than another nonsensical attempt to have you second guess what you know is right.

A government for the people and by the people means just that. These incremental pillages into our rights eat away at everything we know to be correct. Self-government is a constitutional right, and I’m sure that in 2024 that includes choosing the tires we purchase for our cars.