Liberty a Bright Idea

Ludwig von Mises once said, “Government is essentially the negation of liberty.”  A truer statement cannot be found especially in a time when the Government has dictated to us what light bulbs we can purchase.  Thankfully Rep. Joe Barton has introduced legislation that is to be voted on tonight that would remove the ban.


We supposedly live in a free country but every move the government seems to make takes more and more of our liberties away from us.  This ban was put in place to increase the use of compact fluorescent lambs or CFLs.  However, isn’t it interesting that our ‘enlightened’ leaders in Washington believe that they need to be the ‘guiding light,’ and show us the error of our ways by mandating we use this inferior product?


If these CFLs were a good product then we wouldn’t need the government to make us use them because there would already be a strong market for them.  However, that has not happened.  Why, one may ask?  This is because the CFLs contain mercury so one has to take special procedures to dispose of them.  They take a long time to heat up and reach maximum illumination, and they do not contain the illumination capacity that regular incandescent light bulbs possess.


If this ban is to remain in place and we are forced to purchase these horrible CFLs there will be no market to correct the flaws in the CFLs.  Those who support this green technology should use compelling advertisements or other tactics to persuade consumers to purchase these light bulbs, rather than have the government force them upon us.  Hopefully Rep. Barton’s bill will be passed and signed into law, letting the light of liberty shine again.  This is why I am urging you to contact your representative and tell them to vote in favor of H.R. 2417