unmutualgrizzly.com

Gov. Schwarzenegger

The California Energy Commission wants to ban Plasma and LCD TVs that are over 40″ in size, as they have been deemed “Energy Hogs”, and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has backed the proposal (read the story from Daily Mail here). This move is being done in the name of environmentalism and energy conservation, which is all fine and good, but not enough of a reason for the government to come into your home and tell you what kind of TV you can have.  This may seem like a trivial issue to most, but why do I feel like we’ve stepped out onto the slippery slope here? California is telling consumers that as soon as 2011 they cannot buy flat-screen TVs over 40″ in the state of California unless they meet a new energy efficiency requirement, which almost all of the current models do not. Retailers and manufacturers would have to pull these sets off their shelves, and consumers would have to buy them out-of-state or online (if an online retailer would even agree to ship such a TV to California). Has anyone figured out why this is any of the State of California’s business? I sure haven’t. If I want to buy a large Television, and I’m willing to pay the electric bill that goes along with it, that should be the end of it.

The scary thing about this policy is that everyone in goverment would probably tell you that people should have the right to purchase any legal item they want with their money, so if you make an item illegal (like a 42″ plasma TV), they can stop you from buying what you want and still sleep at night. What’s next? Is it out of the realm of possibility for them to ban my John Deere riding lawnmower because it consumes more gasoline than a push-mower would and puts out too many emissions? Will I have to start washing my dishes by hand because the energy consumed by running my dishwasher will be considered unnecessary? I urge the people of California to stop this while they still can, because if you give an inch they will eventually take a mile. Write your state legislature and definitly let Gov. Schwarzenegger know what you think (contact him here). If you think the economy is bad now, just start letting the government pull popular products off the shelves and force manufacturers to spend more money trying to meet stricter standards and move around existing inventory, (which are all costs that will surely be passed on to the consumer). California got themselves into their energy crisis, but banning big TVs seems like really-bad, freedom-infringing perfume on a much larger pig.

2 Responses to “Don’t lay a finger on my 40″ Plasma”