Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

The light bulb ban provides a useful window into the mindset of liberals:
No Pasaran ^ | 01/01/2014 | No Pasaran

Posted on 01/03/2014 6:49:32 AM PST by Rusty0604

Regardless of party affiliations, true conservatives have made the old fashioned light bulb—an unassuming household item—into a symbol for something much larger. But what, exactly? At the risk of sounding melodramatic, it has become symbolic of the fight between liberty and tyranny.

The light bulb ban provides a useful window into the mindset of liberals. Here’s how they see the issue: energy-saving bulbs are better, therefore the others should be illegal. The pattern repeats itself in nearly every other realm: they determine the best policy, then impose it in a top down manner with no regard for states, localities, or individuals. Arguing with them about choice is futile because they cannot fathom the idea that the debate has nothing to do with which bulb is better, but rather who gets to decide.

Why can’t the government do that? The answer is simple: because Americans might choose the wrong one!

Liberals’ famous reverence for choice arose only because they couldn’t bring themselves to utter the word ”abortion” in a debate that is clearly about that very thing. Consequently, the word “choice” has been used so frequently in reference to the gruesome procedure that it is now universally understood to mean abortion. When a reporter asks a politician where he stands on the issue of “choice” people understand without any further context what the reporter means. (Hint: not light bulbs.)

I’m pro-choice too; pro-light bulb choice, that is

(Excerpt) Read more at no-pasaran.blogspot.com ...


TOPICS: Society
KEYWORDS: carbonfootprint; envirowhackos; greenjobs; liberalfascism; lightbulbs
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-40 last
To: Rusty0604
Here are two graphs, one from The Livermore Labs on energy use and consumption in the USA, and the one below it, which I have adapted to show how much individual light bulb savings contribute:

This is the original one:

This one shows (using their data) how much energy is "saved" by putting individual homeowners through this crap:

21 posted on 01/03/2014 9:06:10 AM PST by rlmorel ("A nation, despicable by its weakness, forfeits even the privilege of being neutral." A. Hamilton)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Buckeye McFrog

True dat. < |:(~


22 posted on 01/03/2014 9:06:26 AM PST by martin_fierro (< |:)~)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: smokingfrog

True, and often forgotten.

And of course it works in reverse, too. When you are cooling your home the AC runs longer to remove the heat added by incandescent lights. (As it does the waste heat produced by all electric devices.)


23 posted on 01/03/2014 9:09:18 AM PST by Sherman Logan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: ConstantSkeptic
Heating the house by light bulbs isn’t very efficient, and it’s expensive to pay for the A/C to offset their heat during the summer.

The comparative advantage varies with source of your heat.

If you heat with electric resistance, then the waste heat from light bulbs is exactly as efficient as that from your heaters. Just about any other source of heat is more efficient, though.

24 posted on 01/03/2014 9:11:26 AM PST by Sherman Logan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: Rusty0604

The sheep don’t know anything anyway. Over the last couple years when I was buying up my lifetime supply of incandescent bulbs I always asked the clerk checking out my order, “Do you know that these bulbs will not be available at the end of the year?” The answer was always a blank stare. This was not just a couple clerks, it was maybe 20. They know nothing and don’t care to know anything about the world going on around them. Their progressive teachers have taught them well.

I think that they are typical no-nothings who, if they get any news at all, they get it from the network evening newscasts.


25 posted on 01/03/2014 9:15:33 AM PST by OldPossum ("It's" is the contraction of "it" and "is"; think about ITS implications.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Rusty0604

It should be noted that this is simply an extension of the process whereby the government mandated certain mileage requirements for vehicles.

As with the mileage, the regulations do not specify the technology to be used, only the energy use per lumen minimum that must be met.


26 posted on 01/03/2014 9:19:41 AM PST by Sherman Logan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Sherman Logan

Unless you live in Florida or California, I hope your electric heat is from a heat pump, not a resistor. Converting electricity directly to heat is expensive.


27 posted on 01/03/2014 9:39:44 AM PST by dangerdoc (see post #6)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: Sherman Logan

I think you can still buy halogen bulbs. Of course they cost about 5X as much.


28 posted on 01/03/2014 9:43:12 AM PST by smokingfrog ( sleep with one eye open (<o> ---)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: dangerdoc

There are, or used to be, exceptions in the NW, where electricity was really cheap. Just about all homes in FL, and I would assume in CA, are heat pumps, possibly with backup resister strips.

When I lived in CO a couple decades ago, a LOT of condos were baseboard resistance heat.


29 posted on 01/03/2014 9:43:59 AM PST by Sherman Logan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 27 | View Replies]

To: Rusty0604

I don’t think you should be forced to make the same decision I did even if I know I’m right. trying to save money, yes.

I don’t think you should be forced to make the same decision I did even if I know I’m right. That is my new tagline.


30 posted on 01/03/2014 9:45:11 AM PST by dangerdoc (I don't think you should be forced to make the same decision I did even if I know I'm right.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Rusty0604

Ignore the last post, not sure what happened.


31 posted on 01/03/2014 9:46:27 AM PST by dangerdoc (I don't think you should be forced to make the same decision I did even if I know I'm right.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: grania
To do my part for conservation, I walk around the house with a flashlight and never have more than one bulb on at a time. That's my choice.

Choice ONLY counts when it is to kill your preborn children. In all other cases, Nanny State knows best.

32 posted on 01/03/2014 10:20:17 AM PST by JimRed (Excise the cancer before it kills us; feed & water the Tree of Liberty! TERM LIMITS NOW & FOREVER!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: ConstantSkeptic

I appreciate your willingness to choose LED bulbs, they sound good.

I don’t much appreciate having Government, that can’t handle the logistics of plowing the snow out of the streets, telling me I need to use LED bulbs.

Who gets to choose?


33 posted on 01/03/2014 10:30:17 AM PST by Cyber Liberty (H.L. Mencken: "The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: ConstantSkeptic

“I’m not a big fan of our local power company. Why give them more business than I have to?”

The states are freaking out about lost revenue due to more fuel efficient cars and are raising gas taxes.

The power companies will do the same. Be careful what you wish for.


34 posted on 01/03/2014 10:46:17 AM PST by READINABLUESTATE ("If guns cause crime, there must be something wrong with mine." -Ted Nugent)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: grania
PS....are you one of those people with light bulbs that save the planet and a huge TV screen for your viewing pleasure?

We have two TVs in our house - a 28" LCD by the computer, and a 32" LCD in the living room. Not exactly huge.

35 posted on 01/03/2014 11:08:44 AM PST by ConstantSkeptic (Be careful about preconceptions)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: Pollster1

I curse Al Gore every time I flush my toilet.


36 posted on 01/03/2014 11:51:33 AM PST by Rusty0604
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: READINABLUESTATE

And they are proposing tracking devices on cars so they can charge you for how many miles driven.


37 posted on 01/03/2014 11:54:34 AM PST by Rusty0604
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]

To: Cyber Liberty

Exactly. Who gets to choose.

If the consideration were only the cost of the electricity vs the price of the new bulbs, we wouldn’t switch until the new bulbs were a LOT more competitive.

Of course, the real “problem” is that the government doesn’t want new electric power plants built, and wants us to use actually LESS electric power, because they’re taking 10% of the generating capacity offline.


38 posted on 01/03/2014 11:58:11 AM PST by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter admits whom he's working for)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies]

To: Jimmy Valentine

Yes, W and his brother Jeb both drink the green energy koolaid. Most conservatives forget that the ethanol program began under Bush. One of the dumbest government programs ever.


39 posted on 01/03/2014 3:04:22 PM PST by Oldhunk
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: Jimmy Valentine

I did forget—thanks for reminding me. We lost our way a long time ago, actually. By my reckoning it was about in the 1890s when certain “progressives” became enamored with European socialism. It is a slow erosive progression.


40 posted on 01/03/2014 5:33:15 PM PST by TrueFact
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-40 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson