The “Temporary Pause” Has Been Ended

A federal judge in Seattle appointed by “Joe Biden” has just decreed that Trump’s decree “temporarily pausing” federal funding of EV charging infrastructure isn’t lawful – because Congress allotted the funds and the president has no Constitutional authority to withhold such allotted funds.

The Constitution being a kind of fig leaf covering up the fact that the federal government decides the extent of its own powers. More finely, how such power is divvied up among the various federal branches and apparats. which fight over the power like a pack of hyenas over the body of a dead giraffe.

Anyhow, this federal judge has just snatched some power back from the executive branch (Trump) after he snatched it from the legislative branch. We the people never had much say in the matter. We never have because we (most of us) do not see the problem that inheres in this business of voting away our power. That is what we do every time we vote to give undefined and thus unlimited proxy power to what are styled “representatives.” It is a ridiculous and dangerous thing to style people who can decide to act in any manner they personally deem appropriate – and without any need to obtain our specific approval for any specific action they take on our behalf – representatives. It is of the same species of etymological abracadabra as getting people to use the word “customer” when dealing with the IRS.

The end result of such “representation” is what just happened. Or – rather – isn’t going to happen. Trump got to play-pretend he was pulling the plug on EVs by pulling the federal funding (that is the redistribution of money slurped up by the federal tax machine) for the infrastructure upon which EVs depend to be viable as vehicles. If you can’t find a place to charge when you’re running low on charge, you might as well just stay home. It is like having eggs without a pan or a stove to cook them on.

Many of the people who voted for Trump wanted him to unplug the EVs – because they resented being the ones plugged into. It being their wallets that are filched to provide the “funding” – this is the word they always use, because it sounds innocuous – that is then redistributed by branches and agencies of the federal government to push-along various pet projects that find favor with the branch or agency that wants them pushed. During the “Joe Biden” years, the “representatives” in Congress decided that the EV pushing ought to be promoted by sluicing lots of funding to states, to fund the EV charging infrastructure EVs need to be viable.

Tan Lin – who is the federal judge appointed by “Joe Biden” – says Trump’s minion Sean Duffy at the Department of Transportation “yanked the program’s cord out of the outlet.” What he actually did was withheld the $5 billion in “funding” that was looted from the American taxpayer and scheduled to be redistributed to rent-seeking companies that build out EV “fast” charging infrastructure that mostly isn’t used – because not many people want to worship at the Green Totem Poles for the half an hour or longer it generally takes to instill any meaningful charge in an EV.

But it amounts to the same thing. 

Trump campaigned in part on his promise to unplug the EVs, which he has more or less done. But now that is being undone – and the money (like the spice) must flow.

The latter is a Dune reference that seems apt.

What will Trump do about it?

Maybe he will do as he has been doing in so many other instances – that being to just do as he likes and dare the other branches of the federal apparat to do anything about it. It brings to mind a story about Stalin and the Pope. The latter shook his finger at the Vozhd – the Russian language equivalent of “chief” or “boss” or Fuhrer in the German language – over some thing or other that Stalin had done that the Pope didn’t like. Stalin replied by asking: How many divisions does the Pope have?

Maybe Trump will ask a similar question as regards the  federal judiciary. He is, after all, acting like the boss – for all the good and bad that portends. The problem there is that there will inevitably be another boss – one who may decree differently. We the people get caught in between this see-saw power-grabbing.

But hey, that’s what we voted for – by casting votes.

This article was originally published on Eric Peters Autos.

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