Americans do not like to have their major decisions dictated to them.
Americans do not like to have their major decisions dictated to them.
W hile presidential candidate Harris has yet to comment on her position as U.S. senator to mandate electric vehicles for all new car production by the year 2040, it is worth remembering the history of Democrats’ flip-flops on mandating politically favored behavior.
In 2008, presidential candidate Barack Obama attacked his primary opponent for her plan to mandate the purchase of health insurance. His campaign ads attacked her for “forc[ing] everyone to buy health insurance, even if you can’t afford it.” It was a sensible political move, helping his platform resonate with voters who value individual freedom and limited government.
But after his primary- and general-election opponents were out of the way, President Obama supported a requirement for all U.S. residents to purchase health insurance or pay a fine. Health-insurance companies were eager to have federal rules require purchases of their products. The mandate was part of the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”) until the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act eliminated the fine.
In 2020, it became apparent that Covid-19 vaccines would be widely available pursuant to an Emergency Use authorization by the Food and Drug Administration. President-elect Biden stated that his administration would not make Covid vaccines mandatory. By September 2021, he would require federal employees, and workers at health-care facilities receiving federal funds, to be vaccinated or risk termination. At the same time, vaccination would be required for private-sector employees if their company employed at least 100 people. This mandate was later struck down by the Supreme Court.
Some blue cities and states are mandating that new stoves, heaters, and other appliances be electric rather than use natural gas. Natural gas may be shut off to new construction. But the Biden White House and other federal officials deny having any plans to ban gas stoves.
Automobiles may be the most important machine at risk of being targeted with a misguided manufacturing mandate. The 2024 Harris presidential campaign, although not the candidate herself, denies that Harris supports a federal “EV mandate” requiring that all new vehicles purchased be electric. But the Biden-Harris administration has already imposed manufacturing standards that would require half of new sales to be electric by 2030, even though the current EV sales percentage remains below 10 percent. As a senator, she co-sponsored a “zero-emission” bill that would effectively require all new car sales in the year 2040 and beyond to be electric. Several blue states are imposing EV mandates, or banning the sale of new gas vehicles, to take full effect by 2035: California, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington. Similar rules apply in the U.K. and all of the European Union, with 2035, again, being the year in which they take full effect. These are all reasons to be skeptical of Democrats running for federal office who claim to oppose EV mandates.
Americans do not like to have their major decisions dictated to them. Perhaps that’s why candidates for federal office so often issue the “no mandate” promise even when they are months away from making such requirements the law of the land. I am at least one voter who is dubious of “no mandate” pledges. History shows that the pledges rapidly convert to sweeping requirements.