Tucker Carlson: Liberals want government in our personal lives
Fox News host Tucker Carlson weighs in on the left's culture wars, comparing it to communist China on 'Tucker Carlson Tonight.'
Do you remember when you first heard about the Chinese government's one-child policy? It sounded so foreign, so crazy, so grotesque. Here the Communist Party was deciding how many children people were allowed to have. There was state monitoring of pregnancy. There was forced sterilization. There was infanticide at scale. To the Western mind, the whole thing was repugnant and alien, but maybe the most un-American thing about the Chinese one-child policy was the policy itself. The idea that government could insert itself into the most intimate details of your private life struck most Americans at a gut level as incomprehensible. The whole point of America was to avoid plans like that.
The whole point of America was personal freedom. That's why the country was founded. What you do in private, on your own time with your own money, within the boundaries of the law, was your own business and nobody else's business. It was a foundational point and, on that question, there appeared to be, thank God, bipartisan agreement. Conservatives believed in the Bill of Rights. Liberals believed in personal choice. "My body, my choice," they said. "Government out of our personal lives." They said that for decades.
Now we know they didn't mean it. It turns out that liberals were very eager to intrude as deeply as possible into people's personal lives, just as long as they control the government. Once they were in charge, they set about doing this with no limits and no acknowledgment of the existence of personal liberty. It's been going on for a few years, but it became very obvious the moment that Joe Biden was inaugurated president, which as it happened, was two years ago today. Now that day, January 20, 2021, hours after the ceremony, the White House issued a factsheet explaining how Joe Biden planned to "deliver immediate relief for families across America that are struggling."
That seems like a pretty good idea and you expect a list, of course, of maybe economic developments or fixing the roads or a plan to fight inflation or stop the fentanyl epidemic, but no, that's not what you got. At the very top of that list was a directive on what you were supposed to wear. The Biden administration declared a "100-day masking challenge" to all Americans and they informed you that it was your "patriotic duty" to cover your face. Almost nobody said anything about this, but it was a sea change in American politics.
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Just 15 years before, politicians in both parties had publicly denounced the burqa as a symbol of oppression. If you couldn't show your face in public, you could not be free. That's what they said and, of course, they were right. It's true. Now you had one party demanding tissue paper burqas for the entire population and the other party, for the most part, staying silent as they did it. That was a big deal and in retrospect, Republican acquiescence to mask mandates was a major mistake. If they can tell you what to wear, they can probably tell you what to inject into your body, and if they can do that, there's really nothing they can’t do.
They can control every aspect of your life, no matter how intimate and of course, now they do — that's because they want to. As you've probably read by now, the Consumer Product Safety Commission has suggested the government will soon ban gas stoves. Now, gas stoves have been a staple of American kitchens for more than a century. You may have one in your home. You may have grown up with one, but apparently — and nobody knew this until, like, a week ago — these stoves are a hidden hazard that we must eliminate.
So, why do we suddenly know that gas stoves are a hidden hazard? Why did no one tell us this before? Where did this information come from? Well as the Washington Free Beacon has reported, government regulators are citing a study from a group called the Rocky Mountain Institute and the Rocky Mountain Institute recently partnered with the Chinese to implement an "economy-wide transformation of America." OK, so the Chinese government, by proxy, gets to decide how you cook your dinner, what appliances you're allowed to have in your own kitchen?
That's right, declared The Washington Post, and it's a good thing. The "hidden hazards of these appliances," the Post declared with obvious relief, "is finally getting attention." Finally! We've been waiting for it. Can you imagine the celebration in the Post newsroom? We've been fretting about gas stoves for decades and finally the science has caught up to their concerns. Well, unfortunately for The Washington Post newsroom and the Biden administration and most of all, the Chinese government, not everyone in America was immediately on board with the idea of getting rid of your gas stoves because they're a hidden hazard.
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Many people kind of like gas stoves and they were pretty annoyed, thank heaven, that someone might want to take them away on the basis of one piece-of-garbage science pushed by the Chinese government. So, the whole "ban your gas stoves" thing became a PR disaster for the Democratic Party and they responded accordingly. No, they didn't pull back and say, "Oh, we're not going to take away your gas stoves." No, they pretended it never happened. In fact, anyone who is worried about the government banning your gas stoves, they told you, is an illiterate mouth-breather and possibly a dangerous QAnon militant. The problem is not that we're taking your gas stoves. It's that you're worried that we might take your gas stoves, you freak.
MEHDI HASAN: The GOP’s latest culture war nonsense. The imaginary ban on gas stoves they’re all getting mad about over on Fox.
JARED YATES SEXTON, MSNBC: We’ve even gotten to the point where a debate over gas stoves and whether or not they cause childhood asthma has turned into fear of jackbooted thugs breaking into people's homes.
AYMAN MOHYELDIN, MSNBC: … to have gas stoves pried out of their cold, dead hands – equating it with God and country and what have you.
TIM MILLER, MSNBC: This is about purely trolling in Republican politics right now. There’s the gas stove initiative that they’re performatively outraged about.
MSNBC GUEST: This is delusional drivel from the harem of the unhinged over at Fox News.
JOE SCARBOROUGH, MSNBC: You have Ron DeSantis saying, "I’m going to protect your gas stove." Gas stove, gas stove. It’s so stupid.
Yeah, it's pretty funny. Right-wingers who had nothing else to worry about just one day decided to create a moral panic about gas stoves. They just imagined that someone might be coming for their gas stoves. Maybe because the Consumer Product Safety Commission of the Biden administration said they were coming for your gas stove, but noticing that is not just a sin. Oh, no, it's worse than that. It's another battle in the culture wars, say the people who elevated bathroom politics and people's sexual orientation to the very top of the political concerns. They're worried about a culture war. Stop the culture wars.
In other words, submit, and right on cue, The Washington Post took up the new battle cry. Gone are the stories about how we need to ban gas stoves. In their place, were attacks on Republicans for worrying that someone might try to ban gas stoves. "GOP thrusts gas stoves, Biden's green agenda into the culture wars." Not the culture wars! Probably true that most conservatives would be happy not to talk about culture at all if people would just leave their culture alone and stop intruding into it and telling their children who to have sex with, disrupting the ancient division between men and women in, say, the bathroom. No, Republicans are not driving the culture wars for all their many faults.
Actually, it turns out Democrats are trying to ban gas stoves and they've been working on this for several years now. The problem was, we just didn't know. Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, New York City have already restricted hookups for gas stoves and gas ovens. San Diego, which was once upon a time a nice and reasonable place, says it plans to ban all gas stoves outright by 2035, at which point it will be nirvana. Now, remember, all of this, this moral panic on the left about gas stoves stems from fake science about the health risks of natural gas pushed by the Communist Party of China. Now, why would China push fake science like that? Maybe because the United States has some of the biggest natural gas reserves in the world and if we can be convinced not to use those gas reserves, we will be weak and they will be strong. They're not banning gas stoves. It's that simple, but for the left, of course, kowtowing to China comes instinctively, but it's bigger than that. The real instinct here is that banning things other people like and enjoy is the purest expression of power. When you can snatch someone's pleasure away, you feel like God.
The rush of telling people they're not allowed to do something is just irresistible to certain sorts of people, to weak people, pathetic people, who cluster together in what's called the Democratic Party for warmth and safety and power. Notice conservatives aren't that interested in their party. They'd rather be with their own family, but your average leftist is weak and afraid inside and so the party is the most important thing, not the individual — the party. Together we are strong. Apart we are powerless. Turns out some people like menthol cigarettes. Not allowed. Oh, menthol cigarettes. Well, some people like them, particularly poor people. They like them. Don't have a lot of pleasures? Menthol cigarettes are one of them, but they can't have them anymore. They're being banned. "Menthol cigarettes cause cancer. Shut up!"
Well, of course, a lot of things cause cancer. Probably more than we know. Potentially, cell phones cause cancer. Potentially diet soda causes cancer. They do in rats. They're not banned. How come? Because the people who make and use those products are paid millions in campaign contributions to keep them legal, but nobody cares what menthol smokers think. They're at the bottom of our caste system. They're poor, so no more pleasure for them. Menthol cigarettes are out, along with the many small businesses that sell them.
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This May 17, 2018 file photo shows packs of menthol cigarettes and other tobacco products at a store in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)
REPORTER: The biggest seller at the Elmsford Smoke shop these days are the vaping products, but a close second is menthol-flavored cigarettes.
SMOKE SHOP OWNER: I think it’s a basic human right to buy flavored cigarettes if they want.
REPORTER: Owner Anna Yao says menthol products have always been popular. It’s why she keeps them displayed behind the cash register next to the regular cigarettes, but soon Anna may not be able to sell any of those flavored butts.
SMOKE SHOP OWNER: Very difficult. Very hard for us.
REPORTER: The FDA today proposed a plan that would in fact ban menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars, saying the actions have the potential to significantly reduce disease and death. As for Anna, she hopes the FDA will reconsider so her business can survive.
SMOKE SHOP OWNER: It's really hurt my business.
What's so interesting is the lady you just saw was clearly not from this country, she doesn't speak regular English. She's obviously an immigrant. Her first response is, "Well, buying the kind of cigarettes you like is a human right," and she's absolutely right. She probably moved here for that reason, but boy, do they hate tobacco, and it's not because it causes cancer. They don't care about your health. They closed the gyms during COVID. Anyone who closed a gym during a pandemic that kills people who were fat clearly doesn't care about your health at all. They hate nicotine, they love THC. They're promoting weed to your children, but they're not letting you use tobacco or even non-tobacco nicotine delivery devices, which don't cause cancer.
Why do they hate nicotine? Because nicotine frees your mind and THC makes you compliant and passive. That's why they hate it. It's a real threat to them. New legislation in New York would raise the cigar tax. "Some people die from cigars." It's 75% now. In New York, the tax on cigars will be 95%. Guess what tax on weed is in New York? 13%. "Oh, have some more weed. No more nicotine for you." You should also know that New York has also banned the use of plastic straws. Now, why did it ban plastic straws? You know, there's a reason for this, but we can't remember what it is. To be fair, neither can Kamala Harris.
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ERIN BURNETT, CNN: Do you ban plastic straws?
VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: I think we should, yes. I mean, look, I'm going to be honest, it's really difficult to drink out of a paper straw when you have — if you're just — like, if you don't gulp it down immediately it starts to bend and then, you know, the little thing catches it and you know, but, so we've got to kind of perfect that one a little bit more. Let's encourage innovation and I think we could do a little bit better than some of those flimsy plastic straws, but we do need to ban the plastic.
US Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during the Democratic National Committee Women's Leadership Forum in Washington, DC, US, on Friday, Sept. 30, 2022. (Leigh Vogel/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
"Let's encourage innovation." You can't even get the planes to take off on time. You can't even get the rats out of Penn Station, but you, who've never had a job, are going to invent an alternative to the plastic straw? Hmm. Well, wait. What are you going to come up with, a titanium straw? What? Got any ideas on that, "Karmala" Harris? These are the last people who should be regulating anything. They wouldn't know innovation if it got in the shower with them, but the bottom line is they have no authority. They have no constitutional authority over your personal life. If it's not in the public sphere, they have no right to ban it. You can smoke any kind of menthol cigarettes you want. You can cook in any stove you want. Only you decide what goes into your body, period. That's the promise of America and if we don't stand up for that and say, "No, no, come and get it." Unless we're not embarrassed to be made fun of by MSNBC: "Oh, you're obsessed with gas stoves." No. You're obsessed with gas stoves, buddy. You're obsessed with controlling my life and I'm not going to let you. Come and take it, how's that?
No one says that, so now they're banning laundry detergents because those are dangerous too. Incandescent light bulbs, they're also on the way out. The Department of Energy has just banned them. They look too good. So, now you're stuck with some glowy fluorescent crap. You're saving the planet. There's no rhyme or reason. The only thing that unites all of these regulations is the control they hand to a small group of dumb people with no demonstrable job skills who only feel alive when they're crushing the weak. They make up these insane laws because it makes them feel like Jesus. That's the truth.
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U.S. President Joe Biden walks to speak to reporters as he and first lady Jill Biden leave the White House and walk to Marine One on the South Lawn on December 27, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Anna Moneymaker)
In Massachusetts now, you can't throw out your old jeans or your old socks anymore. It's a civil offense to dispose of textiles. It makes you want to go and just throw T-shirts all over Martha's Vineyard just to break the law. The country has banned showerheads that work and toilets. So, those are the rules for you. No rules apply to the people in charge. Hunter Biden gets to lie in a federal gun form, but you can't throw out your old jeans. You can't have a gas stove, but they can drive drunk.
PRESIDENT BIDEN: You only arrest for the purpose of dealing with a felony that’s committed, and I don’t count drunk-driving as a felony.
So, you don't count drunk-driving as a felony, but catching a menthol smoke is now a felony, using a showerhead that you don't like, or the wrong light bulbs or throwing away your old socks? This is insane and it only continues because people put up with it. You have no constitutional right to tell me what clothes to wear, what to put in my body, what flavor my cigarettes are. None of this is in your purview as a politician. Fix the freakin' roads! You're totally incompetent.
This is a country that was founded because people didn't want to pay a tea tax, and so they started a war, but it's changing, and a lot of Americans, we hate to say, particularly affluent ones, particularly affluent, middle-aged women living in cities, not to be too specific, are totally for this. Today, The New York Times published an op-ed from a woke American woman who spent 16 years living in China. What does she miss about China? She misses the Communist Party of China co-parenting her children. She thinks the Chinese commissars did a better job as a mother than she could have. She misses their firm hand and we're quoting — not making this up, this was in The New York Times today: "Our stringent government co-parent quickly made its presence felt," the woman writes. "The girls’ Chinese kindergarten lectured us on everything, including how many hours our daughters should sleep, what they should eat, and their optimal weight."
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The Communist Party fat-shamed this lady's kids. "We sometimes felt as if our children were on loan to us for evenings and weekends to be delivered back to school each weekday." Now, again, she's not writing a new version of "Darkness at Noon." She's complimenting the government of China. The piece ends by noting, "tight control of the Communist Party's surveillance state results in its own kind of freedom."
That is un-American. That person is sick and if you don't recognize how sick that person is, if you long for a fascist government to call your little girls fat, you're a sick person, OK? The fact that The New York Times would run that and expect all of its readers to applaud? "Oh, if only the government would tell my kids they're fat, this would be a better country." You’ve got to fight for freedom no matter what.
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