Nerds are Needed

Nerds, please apply. We need you.

That's what voters should be saying in every election. We need detail-oriented, meticulous, cautious technical wonks in government jobs.

The people understand this, which is why they elected Al Gore in 2000. The Electoral College and sneaky Florida ballots thwarted the will of people, with disastrous consequences for the U.S. economy as later events proved.

The latest article to catch my eye didn't surprise me. CFL bulbs are a huge scam.

Oh, the technology is good, it's just that private industry has dropped the ball, again, because government was MIA when it came time to write standards and regulations. You see, conservative Republicans don't believe in standards or regulations. They believe in laissez-faire capitalism. This is why so many CFL bulbs fail, because manufacturers would rather save a nickel than make a decent CFL bulb. They calculate that if a CFL bulb fails, you will buy another, which helps their bottom line. Government, until recently under the control of the conservative Republicans, looked the other way.

I can't say I'm surprised. I've lost about 50% of the CFL bulbs I've purchased. The NYT article states that the common reasons for CFL bulbs failing are:

• being in an enclosed space
• being turned on and off frequently
• being used with a dimmer

However, in my case, I've seen them arrive from the manufacturer in glass shards due to poor packaging. I've placed them in open outlets without a dimmer and seen them fail even when turned on and off only five times a day. I reached the conclusion, as did many other consumers, that CFL bulbs are a scam.

But they're not. The underlying technology is a good idea. No, make that a great idea, because 13 watts beats 60 any day of the week. CFL bulbs are supposed to be more reliable, not less, than regular bulbs. Along with their energy efficiency, this is the rationale behind replacing regular bulbs. But you can't get good CFL's by trusting the marketplace. Certain manufacturers have cut corners and gotten away with it, because laissez-faire capitalism doesn't work for anybody except a small group of shareholders.

What's needed are nerds that understand thoroughly the technology behind both CFL bulbs and their manufacture. Government needs to be informed, aware, but most of all have the will to act and enforce regulation that protects the environment and, most of all, the consumer. The only way to have such a government is to elect liberal Democrats to public office.