According to Ronald Reagan the nine most terrifying words in the English language were "I’m from the government and I’m here to help." If anything they are even more terrifying today.
Everywhere we turn government is intruding into our lives and homes. Don’t want to buy health insurance? Go to jail or so mandates Speaker Pelosi’s comprehensive healthcare "reform" bill.
Need a little more heat on a blustery day? Better check with the government before touching your thermostat. And don’t let them catch you even thinking about using an incandescent light bulb even though some tiffany style lamps look ridiculous with anything else.
Now California which has become the leader of the nation for nutty ideas – yes Nancy Pelosi is from our state – wants to limit the power consumption and size of the television you buy.
On November 18th the California Energy Commission is scheduled to vote on a proposal that would limit the sales of televisions to those using about one-third the power consumed by today’s models
If the Commission gets its way it will put a real crimp in the plans of those who have been working hard to be able to afford a home theater system. Although technology is rapidly making more energy efficient products available the energy commission is going to wave its magic wand and say "If you don’t comply bye bye to your big screen TV."
Alright can’t watch the game this Sunday? How about taking the family for a drive? Just make sure your car is not black. Seriously. The California Air Resources Council would like to see black cars banned because the color absorbs more heat. That’s right they want to eliminate black cars because they figure that drivers are turning on their air conditioning which means using a little more gasoline. If black cars go can navy blue be far behind? Folks we are rapidly approaching an America where government will be picking the color schemes of our homes.
The nanny-state is proving a relentless foe of freedom. Don’t be surprised if in a few short years government looks to take over not just standards for your appliances and automobiles but when you can operate them for how long and how much energy they consume in a given time frame. If Government bureaucrats think people are using too much energy to heat and cool their homes they’ll just take control of thermostats electronically – so that the temperature of your child’s bedroom is dictated by some bureaucrat in Sacramento or Washington. These are the same fools who believe that such control actually makes more sense than encouraging the building of new power plants to keep up with demand for energy.
And while those in government seem intent on controlling every aspect of our lives it is not farfetched to suggest that to pay for these programs their next step will be to seize more tax money directly from our paychecks. Oh wait they just did that by increasing withholding on wages by 10 percent.
Jon Coupal is president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association — California’s largest grass-roots taxpayer organization dedicated to the protection of Proposition 13 and the advancement of taxpayers’ rights.
Jon Coupal is the President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association (HJTA). HJTA, with offices in both Los Angeles and Sacramento, is the largest taxpayers association in California with a membership of over 200,000. Founded by the late Howard Jarvis, the author of Proposition 13, HJTA’s name is synonymous with tax relief and the uncompromising defense of the California homeowner.