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If you’ve ever wished your dishwasher used more water, or found your fridge too cheap to run, help is at hand.

Republicans have their sights set on one of the greatest scourges of our age:
woke white goods.

You may or may not remember last year’s “induction stoves are unpatriotic” idiocy.
For the mercifully uninitiated, one of 2023’s more niche culture war moments crystallised around an allegation that “the Feds” were going to “take away” gas stoves.
This was demonstrably untrue: despite plentiful research demonstrating gas stove emissions are hazardous to human health, there was no proposed ban.
Shame: imagine the bootleg methane speakeasies.

The thing about the appliance liberation army is that they’re outraged about something with no downside.

That’s quite helpful to realise, because if they can vehemently oppose unalloyed, no-effort good news, there’s no point trying to persuade at least this small swathe of the population that modest sacrifices of convenience are worthwhile in the name of saving the planet:
they won’t be taking a bus, or recycling a yoghurt pot, any time soon.

Appalling and depressing as that is, it’s also, if you will, quite energy-efficient.

And if there’s anything we’ll need for the existential struggles ahead
– apart from a robust sense of humour
– it’s energy.

... Emma Beddington is a Guardian columnist
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/may/19/free-fridges-make-dishwashers-great-again-us-conservatives-odd-priorities