A LIGHT UNTO THE NATIONS – AT 9:46 A.M. ET:  Americans are gradually learning that incandescent light bulbs will soon be illegal.  But not everyone is content to turn out the lights.  There is blowback:

State lawmakers are fed up with the federal government micromanaging their lives. The South Carolina Senate is scheduled to strike back Tuesday with a bill that asserts the 10th Amendment right of the state to tell Washington to take a hike when it comes to the sale of incandescent light bulbs manufactured within state borders.

Ever since then-President George W. Bush signed into law the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, the clock has been ticking on Thomas Edison’s venerable incandescent. Unless Congress acts before Jan. 1, 2012, federal bureaucrats will begin their campaign to foist the mostly Chinese-made, compact fluorescent bulbs on a public that has shown no interest in buying them on the free market.

Palmetto State lawmakers aren’t interested in waiting for the feds to see the light. The “South Carolina Incandescent Light Bulb Freedom Act” declares any fixture that bears the stamp “Made in South Carolina” is a product of intrastate commerce and thus “is not subject to federal law or federal regulation.”

COMMENT:  Good for South Carolina.  Look, we all want more efficient energy, and better bulbs are part of the solution.   I use small fluorescents myself and think they should get widespread use.  But my beliefs should not be imposed on others.  The answer to obsolete bulb technology is not more federal intervention, but entreprepreneurs who can, through the free market, convince Americans that their new technology is better and more economical. 

How many bureaucrats does it take to screw in those new light bulbs?  It shouldn't take any.  They shouldn't be doing it. 

April 4, 2011