Cap & Trade Requires House Licensing

The writings of Ray Bradbury came to mind as I looked over Cap & Trade legislation requirements, requirements which look more like dark science fiction than something you’d expect in America. Bradbury foresaw a bleak future, a society forced to live in fireproof dwellings that took the place of antiquated homes structured from wood in his book, Fahrenheit 451.

The state made it difficult for those wanting to remain in older homes, condemning such structures and forcing them into newer dwellings; either that or hauling them off to re-education facilities to get their minds right. You’d have to be a misfit to continue endangering your fellow citizens; can’t have that, now can we?

The EPA has worked out a way to force environmentalism on the American public through some interesting legislation, H.R. 2454, also known as Cap & Trade. Other than this bill being a huge wealth redistribution tool, it contains language which should run shivers up your spine.

I read an informative article by Frank M. Carrio written last November expressing concerns about the wording of Cap & Trade legislation, wording which would require all residential houses to be licensed by the EPA, much as your car is registered each year.

“Beginning 1 year after enactment of the Cap and Trade Act, you won’t be able to sell your home unless you retrofit it to comply with the energy and water efficiency standards of this Act. H.R. 2454, the “Cap & Trade” bill passed by the House of Representatives, if also passed by the Senate, will be the largest tax increase any of us has ever experienced.”

Before going further I’d like to contemplate the Declaration of Independence, that part about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Cap & Trade legislation effectively attacks two out of three concepts, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

The EPA believes it has the power to deny home owners their God given right regarding the use and distribution of property along with their individual liberty which would then be controlled by a collective, a bureaucracy’s whims. Congress created the EPA to make the world a better place, a utopia where the air and water was pure, a time before humans corrupted Mother Earth.

In their haste to create a utopian society, instead the EPA, with the help of Cap & Trade legislation, will assure just the opposite, the dystopian world as foretold by Ray Bradbury. Government doesn’t trust individuals to do what government can do for them, or to them; a far cry from that America envisioned by our founders.

“The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence. If ‘Thou shalt not covet’ and ‘Thou shalt not steal’ were not commandments of Heaven, they must be made inviolable precepts in every society before it can be civilized or made free.” John Adams, 1787.


According to the information supplied by Carrio, section 204 of Cap & Trade is the point where government grabs you by the throat and begins to strangle you to the point where you take your wallet out and throw it to the ground hoping to distract the attacker long enough for you to find a shadow to hide in.


“Building Energy Performance Labeling Program establishes a labeling program that for each individual residence will identify the achieved energy efficiency performance for “at least 90 percent of the residential market within 5 years after the date of the enactment of this Act.”’


“This means that within 5 years 90% of all residential homes in the U.S. must be measured and labeled. The EPA administrator will get $50M each year to enforce the labeling program. The Secretary of the Department of Energy will get an additional $20M each year to help enforce the labeling program. Some of this money will, of course, be spent on coming up with tougher standards each year.”


It gets better in section 304.


“Greater Energy Efficiency in Building Codes establishes new energy efficiency guidelines for the National Building Code and mandates at 304(d), Application of National Code to State and Local Jurisdictions, that 1 year after enactment of this Act, all state and local jurisdictions must adopt the National Building Code energy efficiency provisions or must obtain a certification from the federal government that their state and/or local codes have been brought into full compliance with the National Building Code energy efficiency standards.”


Do you see where this is going? Think of the EPA as the federal government’s version of a one size fits all home owner’s association; that should curl your hair.


I thought dealing with my local home owner’s association was difficult when I tried to paint my house a few years ago, a simple renewal of the paint scheme I’d had for years. Apparently there wasn’t a specific list of mandated “earth tones” to match up against the tan and brown colors I’d been using previously. Permission to continue was denied until the board could decide, arbitrarily, if my paint choice fell into their idea of ‘acceptable’; all the while threatening legal action if I didn’t comply with their order to paint my house.


Cap & Trade legislation has many more surprises, many of which fly in the face of constitutional limits placed on government, a government intended to be a servant of the people, not a master over them. You can count on plenty of anger, expressed resentment, rage and disgust from citizens who hold life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness dear. Such dissent does not constitute sedition, in spite of attempts by the Obama administration to paint folks who hold conservative values as dangerous.  Instead, clamoring at the top of our lungs to halt such insanity falls under ‘petitioning the Government for a redress of grievances’ as protected by the 1st Amendment.


I’d suggest going down to the local café and ordering a bowl of split pea soup; but the FDA has outlawed the use of salt and nobody wants to eat split pea soup without a little help from the salt shaker. As Paul Harvey would say, “Good Day”.


This article has been cross posted to The Moral Liberal , a publication whose banner reads, “Defending The Judeo-Christian Ethic, Limited Government, & The American Constitution”.