Broken Bulbs

Conventional wisdom says if it isn’t broken there is no reason to fix it.

U.S. citizens are told that their traditional Thomas Edison light bulbs are broken, worn out and costly and they will have to use a new one, a better more efficient one. We are living in an age that says conventional wisdom is broken, so we break all conventional ideas.

Myron Ebell, Director of Freedom Action, has found that the U.S. government’s favor of incandescent light bulbs over normal bulbs is another broken idea with damaging side effects to American businesses and citizens.

At the bloggers briefing at the Heritage Foundation, Mr. Ebell said, “Cass Sunstein believes the government can regulate the rules a bit because they know what’s good for the people,” in reference to a proclamation by a powerful White House “czar.” If that sounds strange to you you’re in good company, Mr. Ebell told the Heritage Foundation audience on January 31, 2011, adding that “this [regulation] undermines the basis of democracy.”

The illogical thing about government-regulated light bulbs is that they are marketed in a way that tries to convince people that they are actually good for business and the economy. In fact the “economy is being regulated to death, which is why it’s not growing,” Ebell explained.

The bulb ban was ignited by General Electric for purely profitable purposes. They created more expensive products than their competitors and insisted that the standards on their products be met by other businesses. These standards are not set for competing businesses; they are set for GE, because from a practical perspective, the standards for the game was set-up for GE’s success.

Although the Obama Administration is enthusiastic about this policy, it actually  originated under the president’s Republican predecessor. The ban was propelled through Congress on the backs of Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) and Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.)and it made its way to President Bush’s desk where it was swiftly signed into law.

This ban is scheduled to begin on January 1, 2012, which is why the group Freedom Action is organizing a “grassroots campaign” to repeal the ban, Ebell revealed. He went on to say that“The light bulb ban is an outrageous government limitation on consumer choices and it’s an intrusion into the home of every American.”

Light bulb regulation is a broken governmental program deceptively designed to fix a product which was never broken to begin with.

Torey Hall is an intern at the American Journalism Center, a training program run by Accuracy in Media and Accuracy in Academia.