They mentioned it as a Bush law twice. Nobody mentioned the law's sponsors, or the great Democratic 100-Hour Plan that it was part of. In my view, that's getting into the "don't look at us" zone.

The lightbulb law is a symbol. By itself, it's certainly not the fall of civilization, but it represents a governing philosophy that declares the individual incompetent to run their own affairs on even the most trivial level.

Energy efficiency does not have to be "enforced." Energy costs money, and it will cost more as time goes on. Look at the record. People buy small cars when gas gets expensive. When prices go down, they stop. Before the lightbulb law, people were starting to buy CFL bulbs when the technology and prices got to the point where they actually did save money over time. I was buying them.

We need to be smart about a lot of things. I am not willing to accept the premise that some boob in Washington is, by some divine anointment, going to be smarter about them than the rest of us. The record, in fact, seems to show exactly the opposite.