2016 Postmortem
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By Michael Tomasky
The GOPs Relentless Crusade to Save America From Commie Light Bulbs
Youll have to pry incandescents out of their cold, dead hands. How one little-noticed new budget provision keeps alive the most ridiculous element of Republicans culture war.
You may not be following the budget debate wrapping up on Capitol Hill right now. Between Chris Christie and Bruce Springsteen and the Oscar nominations and the Justin Bieber cellphone controversy, it got kind of lost.
But one fact about this new budget is worth contemplation. It carries forward the culture war over light bulbs. Yes, light bulbs. And the reasons for the light-bulb culture war? Well, pretty much the same reasons for the rest of the culture war. Light bulbs became culture-war fodder about three years ago when they started to look like curly fries at Arbys. They started costing more. They got
funny. And confusing. Now we had to learn about things like lumenswhich sounds vaguely European, like some legume favored by those socialized-medicine-loving people of Scandinavia. Of course this happened after Obama became president. And, of course, libruls and gummint people started talking them up.
But it was George W. Bushs Department of Energy that got this ball rolling, back in 2007, and the light-bulb industry immediately embraced the switchover to CFL bulbs (compact fluorescentsthe squiggly spiraley ones) because they had the technology on hand to start making them and capture market share. They last far longer than incandescent bulbs and save enormous amounts of energy. If every American household replaced 15 old-style bulbs with 15 CFLs, or better yet LED bulbs (the ones that often have that kind of fan-like look on the narrow part of the body leading up to the bulb), wed save an equivalent of more than 40 power plants energy output.
But as Groucho sang in Duck Soup, Whatever it is, Im against it, and so it is with conservatives: If liberals are for it, they automatically turn anti. A study last spring by a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania found the following: She took two sets of liberals and conservatives and explained to them that CFL bulbs cost more upfront but saved money over the long haul and could reduce our dependence on foreign energy sources. At this point, liberals and conservatives reacted with more or less equal enthusiasm. But then? As Grist reported it: Slap a message on the CFLs packaging that says Protect the Environment, and we saw a significant dropoff in more politically moderates and conservatives choosing that option, said study author Dena Gromet.
more
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/01/17/the-gop-s-relentless-crusade-to-save-america-from-commie-light-bulbs.html
sinkingfeeling
(51,275 posts)of incandescent bulbs. I just laughed.
KT2000
(20,544 posts)just sent their customers 8 of the CFL bulbs to get us through the transition!!
Why do those repugs have to fight everything. If they had their way we would still be living in caves.
hedgehog
(36,286 posts)free bulbs to utility customers than to bring on additional turbines in the evening and/or build more power plants. Proof that CFLs save money!
KT2000
(20,544 posts)is very proactive that way. We have many programs to reduce electric use - insulation, window replacement etc. I also got the best low-flow shower head ever from them years ago.
I owe this all to one particularly brilliant commissioner.
Aristus
(66,082 posts)of a threatened way of life...
workinclasszero
(28,270 posts)Rush and fox "news" do all their thinking for them.
FSogol
(45,355 posts)It is down to 2001 levels thanks to newer light bulbs.
http://hamptonroads.com/2013/12/us-residential-electricity-use-falling-2001-levels
PADemD
(4,482 posts)IMO, they do not last longer than incandescent bulbs; and they have to be recycled as hazardous waste. In our area, they can only be recycled twice a year; and we have to drive 18 miles one way to the hazardous waste collection area.
bossy22
(3,547 posts)My friend happens to be one of them. He can only spend about an hour in that kind of light before he starts getting terrible headaches.
NutmegYankee
(16,177 posts)It's a completely different way of producing light, and produces it in a similar spectrum as incandescent bulbs.
NCLefty
(3,678 posts)And we know how many pols they own... MANY.
Tying the issue to "FREEDOM!" is just the GOP adding their own special signature to the matter.