The Derangement of the Democrats: Biden on Elimination of Fossil Fuels

To some extent, a reminder that high gas prices are not merely a foreseeable consequence of Democrat policies, but a conscious, intentional goal thereof.

   But beyond that: a reminder that this is just the tip of the iceberg.

No sane person who knows anything at all about these issues thinks that fossil-fuel use can be eliminated any time in the foreseable future. And the idea that their use can be eliminated before Biden leaves office is sheer delusion.

   But unhinged, fantastical, sci-fi utopianism has a grip on the leftist mind...even when it is catastrophically unrealizable. Maybe that's just another aspect of political correctness, the subordination of fact to leftist dogma/ideals. Maybe the "reasoning" goes something like this: x is in some sense an ideal state, ergo we must strive for x despite the fact that it is impossible and said striving would lead to our destruction. Or maybe it's just a confused ought-can argument:  we ought to achieve x, therefore we can achieve x. The latter sort of argument isn't hopeless, but much hinges on the first clause, obviously.

   Most of us would happily trade fossil-fuel use for cleaner alternatives if they were approximately as good--even if they were somewhat more expensive and/or less efficient. But that's not the choice we face. The problem here is mostly caused by political correctness and leftist crisis-mongering/hysteriogenesis. A reasonable, long-term goal has been turned into a destructive, utopian fantasy by the combination of (a) the left's high default levels of hysteria and (b) its habit of creating fictional crises to achieve pre-existing political aims. The reasonable view that We should work toward minimizing fossil-fuel use has been abandoned in favor of We must end all fossil-fuel use immediately or Earth will be reduced to a blackened cinder. And when that sort of unhinged thinking takes over, here's what doesn't happen:  we move toward a laudable goal more quickly. Here's what does happen: we do stupid things that overall make the world worse. It's a bit like the difference between Hey, you should get that thing on your arm checked out and If you don't cut off your arm immediately, you will die. The latter is not a more effective way of achieving the aims of the former. It is, rather, a blueprint for disaster.