To recap the big-government-environmentalist light bulb crusade: Democrats and Republicans teamed up with Big Business lobbyists in 2007 to pass a bill that effectively outlaws the traditional incandescent, leading to mass layoffs in Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky, and forcing Americans to buy more expensive light-bulbs, which are mostly made in China.
Manufacturers were always free to make more expensive, more energy-efficient light bulbs, and consumers were always free to buy them. But now that Congress was prohibiting less-efficient bulbs — which were far cheaper — many manufacturers ramped up research into the more expensive and higher profit-margin light bulbs. These days, just before it becomes illegal to import regular bulbs (the law already caused all the U.S. factories to shut down) Republicans are trying to preserve consumer choice — we should be allowed to buy whatever bulbs others are willing to sell us. The manufacturers don’t like the idea of selling low-margin bulbs and they want the regulations to stay in place.
