12  G R E G O R Y J A M E S It was not hard; all we had to do was turn on the television and switch off our brains. Soon we were all convinced that the deadly, toxic, atmo- sphere-killing carbon emission had to go! The path to the elimi- nation of the diabolical carbon atom was not an easy task, but, in the end, we succeeded! At first, each nation attempted to take care of the problem on its own. In America, the progressive left took over Washington. Republican, Democrat, it did not matter. By the turn of the century, laws were made by agencies instead of Congress. If Congress could not pass a law, the appropriate agen- cy did it for them by installing new “regulations.” Or worse, the president simply bypassed the legislative branch by issuing an Executive Order. Of course, both were unconstitutional, but no one seemed to care. The result was the creation of regulation af- ter regulation prohibiting the production of carbon in any form. The first thing to go was the internal combustion engine. Let me restate that… The first thing the middle-class American had to give up was the privilege to own an automobile. Granted, this did not occur overnight. It was a rather slow and carefully ma- nipulated process. First, the car companies were told what kind of automobiles they could produce and sell to the general public. Various regulations were put in place by the government to force the auto industry to design the car they thought was best for the American people. Smaller, more fuel-efficient engines and tiny compact frames were the first in a series of changes. Good-bye Mr. Horsepower. Hello Mr. Go-Kart. Sadly, according to the EPA, even this new breed of gas-effi- cient cars was inadequate. After all, they were still unleashing the evil CO2 atom into our planet’s “fragile” atmosphere. Thus, another series of government mandates forced the private auto industry to push for electric-powered cars. Good-bye Mr. Go- Kart. Hello Mr. Battery-Powered-No-Trunk-Space. This was all well and good until the government realized that electricity does not in fact come from magic beans. Electricity came from