Six states, five of them under total Democratic control, have imposed power consumption regulations on personal computers that effectively ban the sale of some high-end gaming PCs.
Seasoned gamers understand that pre-built computers are grossly overpriced and that building their own from components is more cost-effective (and often results in a higher-quality product). So far, the sale of computer parts hasn’t been affected because legislators are oblivious, but don’t get complacent — they may eventually figure it out.
Moreover, these regulations make little sense in the states where they have been enacted. Washington state, for instance, gets 78% of its power from renewable sources (mostly hydroelectric). With energy production already so clean, individual power consumption restrictions do nothing for the environment. Their sole purpose is to enforce adherence to leftist orthodoxy.
The ultimate goal of laws such as these is to limit the activities of regular people as a means to achieve abstract climate milestones that may not even be necessary, such as the ban on new gas-powered vehicles that California and Massachusetts are aiming for by 2035. And if the liberals are willing to take our cars, there is nothing to suggest they won’t eventually pull out all the stops and go after our gaming rigs, too.
Even though there are legitimate concerns about the well-being of our environment, liberals tend to take their policy responses too far. With a growing contingent of conservatives putting forward more sensible, measured responses to climate change, the public, and gamers especially, have options.
