Sherri's Turn

Earth day. It's my favorite holiday to hate. And it comes around every April. Just like the birthday of Vladimir Lenin. In fact they share the day. It's likely no coincidence that the first earth day ever celebrated was on the 100th anniversary of the birth of the socialist leader, for after all, the effort to "save" the earth does indeed involve controlling the people who live here. All in the name of protecting the planet, mind you.

When we first got involved in hating earth day and nearly all things smacking of environmentalism it was because of the damage it was doing to our sport. Protecting the land, the animals and the very air we breathe was often seen as incompatible with the pursuit of motorized recreation. Thus, beginning sometime in the 1990's we began regularly writing about the perils of environmentalism and the negative impact they were having on our sport, only to discover as time went on, this negativity began to impact every area of our lives.

Fast forward to the 21st century, 20 some years into it and we're seeing results we never would have imagined, such as gas powered vehicles on the chopping block in a number of states across the nation. Our own once formerly great state of California is leading the pack in this effort.

"According to personal finance site Money, California was the first state to adopt the Advanced Clean Cars II rule, which will put a complete ban to new sales of gas-powered cars by 2035."1

How does this align with what the people want? This same source reports, "According to Kelley Blue Book, EVs made up 7.6 percent of new car sales in 2023."2

Maybe check in with Hertz Rentals to see how electric vehicles worked out for them. David Blackmon, energy consultant based in Texas, wrote earlier this year in the DailyCaller.com, "The company . . . will eliminate fully 20,000 EVs – a third of its EV fleet – and replace them with more of the gas-powered cars on which it has always based its business. Why? Well, it turns out that – stop me if you’ve heard this before – the EVs are far more costly to maintain than anticpated and customers have shown low demand for them. Go figure."3

Then there was the guy who tried to take his family on a road trip in his brand new EV truck. "I was forced to ditch my $115,000 Ford EV truck during a family road trip – it’s the ‘biggest scam of modern times.’"4 Having so much difficulty finding charging stations he finallly in desperation had the truck towed to a Ford dealer where he proceeded to rent a gas-powered truck to finish their vacation.

If a person wants to buy an electric vehicle, I fully believe they should have that option, but should we be mandated to drive them? No, absolutely not. And a state that will outlaw the sale of new gas-powered vehicles may as well be fmandating that their citizens must drive the EV's.

To me, this is all tied in to earth day and all it stands for. Absurd requirements all in the name of fighting so-called climate change.

And not just the cars, how about the gas powered generators and gas-powered lawn tools. And there is talk about banning gas stoves. What happens to our personal choice? And what impact do all these mandates really make on the temperature of the earth as legislation seeks to control us more and more in the United States, and in California specifically?

"Even if America stopped emitting carbon overnight, global temperatures would decline by less than 0.2 of a degree Celsius by the year 2100, according to government models."5

This reported by the Daily Signal in the article, New Documentary’s ‘Cold Truth’ About Climate. The author further writes: “'Climate the Movie: The Cold Truth' shows that climate models have consistently overestimated warming, running 43% hotter than actual observations over the past 50 years. Policymakers are nonetheless rushing to implement aggressive emissions cuts and renewable energy mandates that prioritize green energy, but raise costs and result in more blackouts."6

It's so appropriate that earth day and Lenin's birthday share the same date on the calendar each year because Lenin's belief system didn't bother itself with wrong or right, only what must be done to achieve the desired end. According to Alexander Marriott writing in Capitalism Magazine in 2004, "Lenin’s political philosophy knew nothing of morality, he once said that, 'There are no morals in politics; there is only expedience. A scoundrel may be of use to us just because he is a scoundrel.'”7

Marriott agrees the shared date is wholly appropriate. He writes further: "Nikita Khrushchev, Soviet Premier after Joseph Stalin, decided in 1955 that the country should celebrate their national political philosophy, communism. He chose as the day, April 22, Vladimir Lenin’s birthday, a tribute to the founder of the Soviet Union. When environmentalists decided that the Earth deserved a day of celebration in 1970, they could have picked any day of the year, as no one knows the exact day date of the Earth’s birthday. They chose Lenin’s birthday, just as Khrushchev had done. Was this just a coincidence? I think not."

In case you might still be wondering, no, I won't be celebrating or acknowledging earth day in any way whatsoever. But if you choose to, maybe you might like to pay tribute to its inspiration, Vladimir Lenin. You can you know. Dead for 100 years, he has never been buried and his body is still available to view, on display in the Lenin Mausoleum, open almost every day from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

And that, to me, is as bizarre as the political ideology that drove him and the movement that shares his birthday.

1https://www.dailymail.co.uk/yourmoney/cars/ article-13237051/ban-gas-cars-biden-evs-states.html

2Same as above

3https://dailycaller.com/2024/01/14/opinion-the-evindustry-had-a-no-good-terrible-very-bad-weekdavid-blackmon/

4 https://www.the-sun.com/motors/8819130/fordelectric-vehicle-issues-charging-general-motorscanada/

5 https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/03/27/newdocumentarys-cold-truth-about-climate/

6Same as above

7 https://www.capitalismmagazine.com/2004/04/thisearth-day-celebrate-vladimir-lenins-birthday/