Failing to Learn the Lessons of Prohibition

WorldNetDaily founder Joseph Farah says we have failed to learn "the lessons of Prohibition."

One lesson every American claims to have learned is that Prohibition was wrong, a mistake, a sad chapter in U.S. history when the government tried to deny citizens something they wanted.

But I'm not at all sure what lesson Americans actually learned from the ban on the sale of spirits.

Because ever since then, we've been banning products with far less harmful effects.

He's talking about the recently signed law banning incandescent light bulbs in favor of the new florescent bulbs.

I concur with him both on the irony that we've long been banning far less harmful things, and that these florescent bulbs aren't all they're cracked up to be.

In the past year or so I've phased out the old bulbs in our house in favor of these florescents. Not because I'm an environmental wacko or give the slightest hoot about global warming, but because (a) they supposedly give the same or greater light with a fraction of the energy used (that could save me money I could spend on more gas for my automobile) and (b) they are supposed to last much longer than the old bulbs (saving me even more money I can use on gasoline).

The only thing is, they aren't everything they're billed as.

It usually takes about 30 seconds or more for them to reach full brightness...which can be annoying when you need to be able to see well after having walked into a dark room looking for something.

They also don't last the 5 years they're supposed to. I've had them in my house for about a year and a half, maybe a little less, so I should be good to for another 3-4 years without replacing a light bulb, right? Wrong. I've already had to replace 3 or maybe 4, if memory serves.

Then there's the problem of the mercury they contain, which can create problems if one breaks in your house, or when you throw it away. The new joke for the 21st Centry: How many hazmat team members does it take to change a light bulb?

So, the florescent light bulb appears to be just more of what we've come to expect from the Left: broken promises.