A Sense Of Priorities

Rasmussen recently polled on an interesting question:

California is expected to implement energy-conserving regulations any day now that manufacturers and retailers say will in effect ban the sale of big-screen TVs in the state. Other states are likely to follow the Golden State's "green" initiative in the months ahead.

But a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 66% of Americans oppose a law that would effectively ban the sale of big-screen televisions to save energy. Sixteen percent (16%) favor the idea, and 18% are not sure.

Most adults (53%) say being able to buy whatever kind of TV they want is more important than conserving energy. However, 37% rate conserving energy as more important.

Still, 54% are willing to pay more for a television that is more energy-efficient. Thirty percent (30%) are not, and 16% aren't sure.

What do you take from this?  The biggest thing I see here is that most people are very reasonable, and understand what 'green' initiatives really are - unnecessary government control, and a bite out of freedom.

Pretty much anyone will tell you they try to do their part to take care of the environment...to a point.  But, when the government (translation: liberals) warps that reasonable and fine spirit of virtue by thrusting itself into the discussion, issuing decrees and regulations with all the reasonableness of a sledgehammer, the gloves come off in response.  In this particular case, people realize that huge TVs use more energy, and they're willing to pay a small premium to make up for that energy use.  But threaten to take away the huge TVs altogether?  No dice.

This is, I think, the reason that the American people have cooled tremendously in the past couple years toward the whole climate change hoax.  The science clearly does not support it, and the liberal Left is proposing new measures that would restrict freedoms -- what car to drive, what light bulb to use, what food to eat, what TV to buy, etc. -- and cripple the economy through skyrocketing taxes and costs at the same time.  Most people want to be good stewards of this nation's natural resources, but they also reject these extreme measures because they apply a healthy dose of common sense and prioritization to decisions like these.  That is something liberals are incapable of doing, and even if they could, I doubt they would.

I suspect the fact that liberals love to shake their finger at the rest of us for behaving badly while flying around in their own private jets and lounging in their multiple 10,000-square foot homes might have something to do with it, too.

There's my two cents.