Posted on 09/03/2026 4:51:41 AM PDT by MtnClimber
There was a time when buying a light bulb did not require government permission. Customer demand dictated market choices. You walked into a store, examined the alternatives, considered price and quality, and bought the one you wanted. The manufacturer wanted to sell it. The merchant wanted to stock it. You wanted to buy it. Three voluntary parties agreed; nobody else’s rights were violated, and that was the end of the matter.
But that arrangement is incompatible with the agenda of California’s overlords.
Today, while shopping online, Californians routinely encounter a disturbing message: “This item cannot be shipped to your location.” Change the delivery address to Nevada, Arizona, Oregon, or another state, and suddenly the same perfectly ordinary product becomes available.
California has imposed restrictions against a growing number of appliances, light bulbs, faucets, showerheads, computers, televisions, air conditioners, pool equipment, gasoline containers, automotive products, and countless other ordinary goods. Energy efficiency, water consumption, emissions, chemical composition, and certification requirements have been deployed as the pretexts for these restrictions.
The premise of a free society is that individuals own themselves. They consequently possess the moral authority to make peaceful decisions concerning their own lives and property. The American government was designed to protect that freedom, not to restrict it.
If a Californian prefers a particular showerhead, air conditioner, or light bulb, why should a government bureaucrat stand in their way?
The answer is because they can. The people may not like it, but donors and lobbyists obviously do.
When consumers have liberty to choose, some may select a less-efficient appliance because it costs substantially less or prefer a particular light bulb because of its color, brightness, dimming characteristics, or longevity. Many want a higher-flow fixture simply because it works more efficiently, and most folks choose a gasoline-powered automobile because
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Why aren’t people in California fed up?
“Why aren’t people in California fed up?”
Two reasons:
1. They hate Trump, and with that, every Republican. They don’t know why they hate Trump, since they used to like him, but they hate Trump.
2. 19th Amendment.
At some point California should have to reconcile these laws with the Commerce Clause of the Constitution.
When individuals in charge of the state are unchecked criminals, they can do whatever they want to citizens. Their power does not cross state lines.
Many more are fed up than we realize. The vote fraud and manipulation here is beyond anything else in the US save Chicago. We don't know how many are fed up with Democrats. That's one side.
The other side is that the CAGOP has done a miserable job selecting and promoting candidates. The national Party harvests money here but doesn't really advance candidates. The content of their message is pure pabulum. They really don't do anything innovative. I have tried for decades to get their attention in writing offering to train candidates on environmental issues and I don't receive even a polite reply.
California a history lesson on how not to operate a state.
Likely it is because they are mentally weak and LIB brainwashed. They cope with their state LIB insanity rather than actively oppose it. I guess they deserve what they accept. It sucks to live there. Oh, well...
I want to buy a car without a catalytic converter, no turn signals, and without seatbelts!
California wants to be ready for the Chinese to show up - with their belongings.
I think you no longer have a functioning political system with opposing parties and viewpoints in California.
The Democrats have politically achieved what in corporate America is called a “monopoly,” and they are keeping the competition out.
“Why aren’t people in California fed up?”
They are. It’s largely the vote fraud.
Friends and relatives ship things to my Nevada address which they pick up or I deliver on my trips to California.
I find the tax on beverage bottles and cans so annoying that I buy them in Nevada and take them with me to California.
I was going to buy a computer monitor when in California and then saw a $5 disposal fee so I held off and bought in Nevada and brought it back with me on my next visit.
I’m not the only one of course and as the taxes grow more onerous this will happen on a larger scale.
In the next several years all California refineries will shut down and at the same time a pipeline carrying gasoline from the Gulf will be run to the Nevada and Arizona part of the Southwest. Gas oline will be around $3/gallon in Nevada and it will be $10 or $12 per gallon in California. Visitors will then bring jerry cans with them to haul gas back to California.
“higher-flow fixture”
The AirBnB I stayed at in California last year had a maximum flow only shower which I believe was a Moen Posi-Temp.
I once stayed at a Motel 6 in California which had the same type of maximum flow only shower.
Here in Florida I have a controllable flow shower which uses a controllable flow Moen Chateau? system.
“Energy efficiency”
One of the Florida codes governing building (there are about $3,000 of such codes) regulate energy efficiency.
A checklist I have for house building plans for Orange County, Florida is 24 pages long.
“light bulbs”
The front doorway lights of my house use two incandescent bulbs wired in series. I have quite a stock of such bulbs even though such a system tends to very much prolong bulb life.
I would think that if any of the adjacent states like AZ or NV could set up retail locations on the CA border offering products NOT AVAILABLE for sale in CA they would be very successful.
This is similar to here in NH. Where we have NO SALES TAX. The largest shopping malls, fireworks stores, and NH LIQUOR stores are all located for the people of adjacent states to come here and make purchases.
NH has the highest alcohol consumption per capita in the USA. That is due the the large stores they have on RT 95, RT 93, Rt 89 interstates. Driving through to go up to Maine or VT. Stop and fill up at the gas station and buy a couple handles in the liquor store. On the way home from your lake house in NH. Stop and buy booze before you return to MA, CT, RI or NY.
Need to buy fireworks. ALL FIREWORKS are legal in NH. Even the really big ones that cost hundreds of dollars. The largest volume stores are located within a mile of the MA border.
The two largest shopping malls are right on the border of MA. Buy your big screen TV or any other product. No sales tax any day of the year.
California, the land of two-legged fruits and nuts.
They are actually a small but too obvious and powerful percentage.
“appliances, light bulbs, faucets, showerheads, computers, televisions, air conditioners, pool equipment, gasoline containers, automotive products”
I believe there are federal and Florida regulations for all such things.
Florida has a very stringent child pool safety law involving three-foot fencing and window alarms applicable even if you don’t have children.
Florida now regulates far more than the State of New York did during my youth.
Go out and buy a 1964 Corvette. They are about $50K in decent shape. With a 4 speed transmission and small block(327) V8.
You will also get an AM radio, drum brakes, a carburator, crank windows, no AC, points, no electron ignition, etc.
One of the guys in my office has one. His wife bought it for him as a 25th wedding present. It is now worth between $45-50K. His interior needs to be totally redone.
IMHO, a late 1980s SL550 Mercedes would be better.
“Florida has a very stringent child pool safety”
Those laws tended to be written because some child drowned.
I had an in ground pool at my former house here in NH. It had to have a 4’ high fence around it with pickets no more than 4” apart. Basically, so there is no way for a toddler to climb over or squeeze through. I had a 6’ high vinyl fence around my pool. I also had three gates/screen doors. The locks/hooks on those doors were also five feet off the ground with self closing spring loaded hinges. Again, to keep a child from unlocking them.
Lots of these swimming pool laws are also to protect the home owner from liability. You do not want your neighbors child to wonder over and fall into YOUR pool. Not only a tragedy BUT you will be sued IF you didn’t do every thing to keep it from happening. You will probably still be sued.
I sold that house coming out of the Great Recession 15 years ago. I considered renting it because I knew the real estate market was going up from its lows. I decided to sell it due to the legal implications of renting a house to someone with a pool.
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