Well…yes.
During his inaugural speech on Jan. 1, Mayor Zohran Mamdani declared, “We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism.”
It certainly feels warm these days.
As temperatures climbed during the heat wave that blanketed much of the eastern United States, the mayor took to social media with a familiar message from the government. “New York: it’s hot out there, and the power grid is working overtime to keep us cool,” he tweeted. “Set your AC to 78 degrees, turn off lights/electronics you’re not using, and unplug what you can.”
This is the real face of the political left: Individual comfort and convenience should be subordinated to collective priorities, with government officials deciding how much energy ordinary people ought to consume.
Well…yes.
Of course it damn well should. If there’s enough food for 12 people, one person shouldn’t take half of it. If there’s a famine, one person shouldn’t hoard food. If there’s a drought, one person shouldn’t use up all the water. You see where I’m going with this? One selfish pig shouldn’t be hoarding necessities while others go without. We’re taught that at about 3 years old.
Over the pond in Europe, we are seeing the effects of that warm glow of collectivism in full force. Decades of climate policy, energy restrictions and cultural hostility toward air conditioning have left millions of Europeans sweltering without one of the greatest public health innovations of the modern age.
As if climate policy and energy restrictions were just some kind of eccentric fad. The reality is that some of us think we shouldn’t be blithely letting the planet cook simply because we won’t be the ones suffering the worst of it.
Shouting “Why aren’t you crazy people being more selfish?!!” is not a great look.
The lesson is that wealthy societies survive climate extremes by adapting to them. Americans adapted to hot summers with widespread air conditioning, modern electrical grids, affordable energy and buildings designed to keep people alive when temperatures soar.
But widespread air conditioning has to be fueled by something. Could it possibly be that the something has contributed to global warming?