Tuesday, October 2, 2012

The Environmentalist Light Bulb Stupidity


A few years back the environmentalist succeeded in getting Congress to ban incandescent light bulbs, and required people to replace them with mercury-filled fluorescent light bulbs.  Aside from the fact that the federal government decided to interfere in the market and pick winning and losing products, this does not necessarily sound like a bad idea.  We are going to have to use light bulbs that tend to last longer.  The federal government actually chose the better product this time, right?  On the other hand, is the fluorescent really that much better?

As I mentioned before, fluorescents are filled with mercury.  What happens when one of those fluorescent light bulbs break?  You technically have to go through all these hoops and rules before you can throw one away if one breaks.  What about a fluorescent light bulb that is burning out and it heats up so much that you start smelling the mercury, and then the bulb explodes almost setting your house on fire.  Is that really an environmentally safe light bulb?

A Burned Out Fluorescent Light Bulb that Exploded and Broke

I guess the federal government really did not choose a good product in its intervention.  Why are there still people that believe the government can know better than individual people can?  What would have happened if the free market were allowed to freely choose its products?  People would have had the freedom to choose the best product, and in some cases, people would have had the freedom to make a better and safer product.

The environmentalists and elites either just do not get it, or they do not care.  The free market is not some mechanical machine that can be controlled and regulated to operate better.  The free market is a living organism made up of individual human beings making free choices in how they buy, sell, and interact with other human beings.  The free market in one word is FREEDOM.

The environmentalist likes to label Conservatives as anti-environment.  Assuming the only true environmental solution is one where the federal government intervenes and controls individuals to meet onerous regulations.  Conservatives are not anti-environment.  We are anti-big government doing the things that are the responsibility of individuals.  We want to be free to find ways to make a better product that is also safer for human beings, as well as safer for the environment.

The problem with the government solution is that it tends to want something one way before the technology is even invented to make it.  Government is caught up in the emotions of an issue, acts too quickly, and then makes a product that either does not work or it is not as safe as they thought.  Emotional lawmaking is going to be the downfall of America if we do not elect responsible leaders that have Common Sense.

People who care for the environment should continue researching the environment.  However, they should not seek a government solution that involves government intervening in private enterprise and centrally controlling business and individuals.  They should seek to provide business and the inventor with well-documented environmental research, and then allow businesses and inventors the freedom to build the best useful product that is also safe for human beings and safe for the environment.

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