The People News, a free newspaper serving Cleveland Tennessee (TN) and Bradley County Tennessee (Tn).





Of Bradley County Tn.


OCTOBER  2010

                            The People News, a free newspaper serving Cleveland and Bradley County Tn.

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It's a Personal View

"There is no possible national interest in having a meddler in Washington..."


by Mel Griffith

Recently, I bought a ceiling fan to replace one in a rental unit. The light had a very small socket instead of a standard one. There was a note saying that the department of energy now requires that the light sockets in ceiling fans must be the small size.

That made me wonder. If the federal government is now deciding what size light I can have overhead, is there anything about my life that Washington isn't deciding for me?

What possible interest could the government have in the light in my kitchen? There is no possible national interest in having a meddler in Washington decide how much light somebody needs in their room instead of having the people who are there and can see how much is needed make the decision.

No wonder the TEA Party folks are angry. Government has intruded into every corner of our lives. The flood of unneeded regulations is just a power grab by an overstaffed bureaucracy filled with people who have nothing useful to do. Slashing the size of the federal government would be a great improvement for the country.

Many of the regulations are supposed to fight "global warming." A few years ago, some power-hungry, unprincipled politicians, especially Al Gore, noticed that the earth is going through one of its normal warming cycles as it has been doing for thousands of years. They had a great idea. If the public could be conned into thinking this natural event was due to human activity, particularly carbon dioxide production, this hoax could be used as an excuse for all sorts on new regulations and power grabs.

Studies of previous warming cycles show that temperatures go up first and then carbon dioxide levels go up. In other words more carbon dioxide in the air is the result, not the cause, of global warming. But our bureaucrats aren't about to let facts get in the way of a good power grab. "Controlling" global warming, which we actually have no influence over, provides an excuse for thousands of regulations, including one about how much light you can get from your ceiling fan.

It is past time for the public to wake up and realize that most of our rights have already been eroded away and that the present crowd in Washington is taking the rest of them away as fast as they can. If the next two elections don't turn the country around, we can pretty much forget about freedom.

.

Mel Griffith

- Mel Griffith raises cattle on his farm in the southern part of the county, is the 6th District member of the Bradley County Commission. He also serves on the Bradley County Planning Commission.

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