The repeal of the first phase of the incandescent light bulb ban failed to pass the House of Representatives yesterday, 233-193. House rules required a a super-majority vote to overturn the original bill.
That an organized and vocal minority can impose their will upon a majority is nothing new in politics. The perceived benefits to the minority are concentrated upon them, while the costs to the majority are widely spread over their number. Hence, the minority simply has more motivation than the majority to act.
However, I think the failure of the repeal measure illuminates (get it?) something more troubling.
Since it's passage in 2007, the BULB (Better Use of Light Bulbs) Act has received not only increasing criticism from the majority, but outright derision across the country. One would think that alone would have made repeal of the act more likely than not. So why is it still the law? Two things come to mind.
First, our political class is increasingly populated with men and women who are altogether different from the people they represent. They constitute, whether from the Left or the Right (although far more from the former than the latter), an almost entirely different species of American.
Second, that which distinguishes them as a species is their complete inability ever to think, much less to say, "Yea, sure, maybe, I don't know, but it's none of my business anyway."
Throw the rascals out.
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