RUTHFULLY YOURS

Acting to please a constituency that prefers scarcity over abundance, Joe Biden ordered up a list of federal rules that restricted consumer choice. Given the exhaustive White House agenda that began when Donald Trump took office on Jan. 20, it would have been unsurprising had he waited to unwind the Biden regulatory knot. But to his credit, Trump has been moving on that, too.

Ignoring the left’s constant “we’re running out of everything” screeching, Trump restored “shower freedom” earlier this month with an executive order “to end the Obama-Biden war on water pressure.” The new rule rescinds “the overly complicated federal rule that redefined ‘showerhead’ under Obama and Biden,” says the administration.

The previous rule, which burned through 13,000 words to define “showerhead,” restricted multi-nozzle showerheads to 2.5 gallons of water per minute. The new rule allows each nozzle in a showerhead to pump out 2.5 gallons of water per minute.

It’s the second time Trump changed the rule. The first time was in 2020. Of course Biden dropped that order after he took office and the government reverted to the Obama restrictions.

Trump’s change make sense. The Democrats’ limitations don’t. It should be obvious that people would have to take longer showers when the water flow is restricted, same as they also have to often flush multiple times to get the job done when per-flush water flow in toilets is capped. In the end, nothing is saved.

It’s also a matter of liberty. The government has no business telling Americans what bathroom fixtures they cannot have and which ones they must have.

Trump is also restoring consumers’ freedom to buy the stoves, washing machines, furnaces, dishwashers and toilets they prefer rather than the ones imposed on them by leftist nabobs. The president also has an opportunity to stop Biden’s leftover regulations from deciding for us which light bulbs we can buy, forcing us to move on from bulbs that cost an average $2.98 to an estimated $5.68.

Meanwhile, the Republican Senate has approved a joint resolution that repeals the Biden-era Energy Department rule that imposes “unwarranted energy efficiency restrictions on consumer water heaters.” The Competitive Enterprise Institute suggests that Congress should “repeal the Biden EPA and California attack on gas-powered cars,” too.

We could overlook the Democrats’ predatory urges to regulate as well-intentioned but misguided efforts. But the more we watch the political left, the more we’re convinced it has succumbed to madness. As Idaho blogger Joe Huffmans observes, the collectivist mentality “cannot imagine a society where people have the freedom of choice to spend their money as they see fit.”

“I suspect,” he says, their inability to comprehend a society not rooted in collectivism “is a form of mental illness.”

We made a similar argument nearly a year ago when pointed out that Democrats and progressives are “as unbalanced as they appear to be.” While that’s our opinion, it happens to be one backed up by science. No one should be surprised that “individuals with dark personalities – such as high narcissistic and psychopathic traits – are attracted to certain forms of political and social activism which they can use as a vehicle to satisfy their own ego-focused needs instead of actually aiming at social justice and equality.”

We said this provided an explanation for the Democratic Squad, Antifa, global warming foolishness, the disturbing obsession with wokeness and destruction, censorship, forced compliance, and a dictator’s lust for dominance on the left.

It also explains why the left can’t keep its nose out of consumer choices. The impulses on that side of the political divide indicate that a mental disorder is driving the Democrats batty.