WHY on EARTH do they HATE LIGHT BULBS??

They MUST HATE America.

Bulb Ban: As of Wednesday, the manufacture and import of 60- and 40-watt incandescent light bulbs will be illegal — one more setback in the fight against government interference into the daily lives of the American people.

First they came for our light bulbs. Before the onset of ObamaCare and its mandate to buy health insurance as a condition of citizenship, there was the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA), one of the first things Democrats took up on retaking the House of Representatives in the 2006 elections.

A well-intentioned President George W. Bush signed the incandescent bulb ban in 2007. After all, Edison bulbs were old technology and a little energy efficiency couldn’t hurt.

But it was a precursor to the power grab that ensued on President Obama’s election in 2008, the beginning of the total war on fossil fuels and consumer choice where government, not the free market, would tell us everything from what energy we could use to what cars we should drive.

The EISA mandated a phaseout of the Edison bulb, to be replaced by the more costly but said to be more energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs (CFL).

Consumers immediately claimed the light from CFLs was not as bright, no matter what the ratings said, the bulbs had to “warm up” to reach full brilliance, and the mercury they contained made breakage problematic and disposal complicated.

Never mind, we were told, they will help save the planet and promote energy independence.

Consisting of glass tubes twisted into a spiral, the CFLs require more hand labor and so are made largely in China, where labor costs are lower and environmental regulations are not so strict.

The Times of London reported that “large numbers of Chinese workers have been poisoned by mercury, which forms part of the compact fluorescent light bulbs.”

The EPA recommends an elaborate cleanup ritual in case of breakage, including throwing away any clothes or bedding that come in direct contact with the mercury from the bulb.

The mercury in one bulb, for example, is enough to contaminate up to 6,000 gallons of water beyond safe drinking levels. According to a British study, CFLs were “a fire hazard that could burn down your home.”

The EISA in effect made incandescent bulbs a controlled substance and outlawed that bane of civilization, the 100-watt bulb, by 2012, with the rest outlawed by 2014.

The ban on 75-watt bulbs kicked in at the beginning of this year. As with electric cars and solar energy, the new bulbs were so beneficial consumers had to be forced to use them.

We can still buy them while supplies last, as the saying goes. Home Depot spokesman Mark Voykovic told Fox News his chain anticipates running out of its stock of 40-watt to 60-watt bulbs six months into 2014.

After that, they will be illegal.

Even government coercion cannot stop the advance of technology, and now American companies are leaking LED bulbs that don’t have the mercury problem, have a more natural light, and last longer.

They also cost more initially than an Edison bulb. Again, the decision to purchase them should be made by individual informed consumers, not as the result of government coercion.

Government does not have the right, even if it has the power, to decide what’s good for us.

It does not have the right to tell us to buy health insurance or what kind to buy, which cars to drive and what foods to eat.

Those decisions are best left to individual Americans educated on the risks and benefits but free to choose what’s best for them.

One might call it the right to light, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

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