Hypocrisy and the debt

How many of us, over the years, have relied on the Energy Star label to help us choose the most energy efficient appliances? The program, initiated with bipartisan support in 1992, has enabled families, businesses, schools and hospitals to lower their energy bills while seriously reducing carbon emissions at the same time.

You’d think such a win-win program would be as sacred as motherhood and apple pie. But no. In its first budget, the Trump administration zeroed out the Energy Star program, and Rappahannock Congressman Tom Garrett supports killing it.

I emailed the congressman urging him to reconsider his position. In his reply, he stated that “I believe that consumers are capable of determining on their own which goods will best suit their needs.”

Right. After taking the kids to school, getting to work, fixing dinner, running errands, doing all the household chores, etc. etc., we all on our own will do all the research and product testing necessary to find out which goods are the most energy efficient. LOL.

But more interestingly, the congressman’s reply didn’t stop there. He also assured me that he was worried about our “dangerously high national debt.”

“I believe that the debt is one of the greatest threats to the wellbeing of our nation and future generations,” his email went on. "We have a responsibility to pay off that debt rather than continue to add to it.”

This was written in November of 2017. A little more than six weeks later Congressman Garrett voted for the tax cut bill that by the most conservative estimates will increase the national debt by more than $1 trillion.

The public needs to take note of hypocrisy in its representatives. And it needs to pay careful attention to the next worthy programs that Congressman Garrett will try to eliminate in the coming year.

ANN CRITTENDEN Flint Hill