In 2007, George W. Bush signed into law the "Energy Independence Security Act of 2007," and now, six years later, American manufacturers and retailers are prohibited from, or forced by law to, comply with ridiculous and contradictory standards.

The purpose of the law was, "To move the United States toward greater energy independence and security, to increase the production of clean renewable fuels, to protect consumers, to increase the efficiency of products, building, and vehicles, to promote research on and deploy greenhouse gas capture and storage options, and to improve the energy performance of the Federal Government, and for other purposes."

Part of the Federal Government's "move toward greater energy independence" was to phase out the manufacture and sale of the most popular light bulb used by every household in the nation, the 40W and 60W incandescent bulb. In its place, alternative, costly and mercury-filled CFLs are manufactured in China, and incandescent factories in the US have been shuttered.

I suppose that, when the Federal Government says that it is acting with your security in mind, it didn't really mean your financial security or your security to avoid being in close contact with dangerous toxins. I can't see a reason to put the word "security" in the title of the act, but then, "affordable" isn't the best way to describe a costly healthcare law either.

The production of fuels has increased - but, this is due to the extraction of oil and natural gas, which do not meet the Federal Government's standards of "renewable energy."

The protection of consumers is a fairly ludicrous purpose, considering that the next-most affordable light bulb, the CFL, contains as much mercury, when broken, as the mercury coming out of the stack of the coal plant that was used to power it. Never fear though, the EPA slapped the most stringent mercury standards on coal plants in 2011, as to forbid many of them from being built.

Interestingly, if you break a CFL in your home, the first thing the EPA suggests you do is open a window and clear the area for a half hour, in an exercise to dissipate the toxic substance. However, when setting coal plant standards, they would like you to believe there is no dissipation happening at the stack.

Increased efficiency is a good purpose, if it is matched by sound financial purpose, but since we are talking about the bloated Federal Government, that's impossible. The Act served to put regulations on car manufacturers and building codes that just costs more money at a time when the nation is in severe financial straits- slowing down our ability to improve our lives.

Mark Levin's Liberty and Tyranny debunked the greenhouse gasses fiasco, by pointing out that most greenhouse gasses are water vapor. But, the silly law called for capturing and somehow storing the dastardly vapor, in ways not even yet conceived of. But, if you want to build a coal plant, you had better damn well promise you'll do it, even if no one knows what "it" is.

Finally, the last stated purpose of the Act most widely known for killing Edison's light bulb was to "improve the energy performance of the Federal Government, and for other purposes."

Your guess is as good as mine as to the specifics of the "other purposes," but I recall a part of the stimulus of 2009 designated $600 million to replace government vehicles with hybrids, along with $35.5 billion in additional funds to "improve the energy performance of the Federal Government."

The layering of laws and spending just keeps going up.

The massive spending of the entrenched elites in both parties is going to be a major stumbling block in 2014. Obviously, Democrats have consistently forged ahead with new schemes and ways to spend money we don't have in very clever and colorful ways.

But I would strenuously disagree with all the giddy polls coming out recently touting that Republicans have a strong edge in 2014, especially if the Republicans have promoted these types of ridiculous spending and liberty-shrinking strong-arm big government policies.

The phasing out of the most popular light bulb in the nation, and the force of government to put in your home the danger they will not allow to power your home is the mixed bag of contradiction, hypocrisy, and nanny-statism that is increasingly troubling Americans of all political stripes.

In 2014, liberty-stripping politicians take notice: the big lie for big-government Democrats may be "if you like your plan you can keep your plan," but for big-government Republicans, Edison's light bulb was something we wanted to keep, too.