In 2007, little seemed problematic about the energy-efficient light bulb or the law signed by President George W. Bush, which called for the incandescent bulb to be phased out in favor its energy-saving counterpart. But that was before the rise of the Tea Party.
Suddenly, saving the old-fashioned 100-watt bulb -- which wastes most of the energy it consumes and costs households more in energy bills than the new model -- has become a matter of personal liberty. And so, House Republicans on Monday will seek to repeal the 2007 law, which calls for the phaseout to begin in January 2012.
The law has been dubbed "the light bulb ban" by activists on the right and has struck a Tea Party nerve. Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Michele Bachmann have all called it government intrusion par excellence. It essentially mandates that no new bulbs can go on the market after January '12 without meeting a new, higher standard of energy efficiency. Bulbs that don't meet the standard but that are already in stores won't be taken off shelves.
"It is one of those issues out there that just inflames people," Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Texas, co-sponsor of the bill that would reverse the phaseout, told Politico. "What in the world were you doing restricting the kinds of light bulbs in my home?"
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Things like this frustrate me to no end. We live in a world of finite resources, and here you have people demanding the right to be wasteful. Only in America where we consume 25% of the worlds resources despite being 5% of the worlds population, can someone think that having a wasteful lightbulb is a right. The right to waste. Such a notion offends me. Never mind that the old bulbs waste energy, or that the new bulbs would save millions if not billions of dollars, we are Americans and no one should tell us not to waste if we feel like it!
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