The U.S. government
for regulating my laundry
The U.S. Department of Energy determines the standards for washing machines in America. In a misguided effort to save energy, the federal government mandated front loading washing machines for the American consumer.
Here is my firsthand experience with the front loading washing machine. My apartment complex provides community laundry rooms, with front loading washers only. To use the washer I have to stoop or kneel down or bend over to load my dirty clothes. What about elderly senior citizens or people with back problems? Many of them can't stoop down or kneel down or bend over to load their clothes. Or, if they do stoop, kneel, squat, bend, to use to load their clothes into a front loading washing machine, they may risk a serious back, neck, hip, or knee injury. Not to mention that loading a large amount of laundry (a full load) is frustrating. When washing a full load you try to put one more pairs of socks or one more pair of underwear in but they keep falling out the open front door. Then, finally, you start the washer. Oops, you forgot to add a dish towel or wash cloth or other item. Too bad, unlike the top loading washing machine, once the front loading washer starts up, you CANNOT add any items to the wash. Finally, your wash is done. Once again, to remove the clothes, you have to kneel down or bend over (ouch). You open the door and ... clothes fall out.
None of these added annoyances happened with the top loading machines. None. The government mandates front loading washing machines primarily because they save energy. OK, by all means, let's save energy. But who is going to save my back!? Will any energy cost savings be offset by a large increase in medical treatment for back pain, caused by front loading washing machines? According the federal government's National Institute of Health, acute back pain in the U.S. already costs $100 billion. Annually.
Hmm. Front loading washing machines. Is this yet another "slippery slope"? Does it mean that the government can once again dictate to the private sector what products are produced and marketed for private consumption? If so, that is yet another dangerous precedent ... one that brings Americans ever closer to the end of individual freedom.
Now the government is in our laundry rooms. Is there ANY area of American life where the government has NOT intruded? They are already in our
living room (light bulbs)
bathroom (low flow toilets and shower heads)
bedroom (mattress tags)
garage (mpg standards)
schools (funding)
bodies (Obama Care)
sex lives (free condoms, morning after pill for 15 year-olds, abortion)
electronics devices (phone taxes et al)
communication (collecting everyone's phone records, email records, et al)
garbage (recycling batteries, banning plastic bags et al)
Taxes on practically everything: gas, cigarettes, liquor, income et al
Is there ANY area where the government can not, or will not, intrude? No.
Welcome to the New America. Where government decides what you can and cannot do and your individual freedom and independence are no longer guaranteed under the founding documents of America, the United States Constitution and the Bill Of Rights.
Welcome to the New America, where the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of laundry, is no longer a right, it's an illusion. Controlled by the government.
Congratulations to the U.S. government, you now control America's laundry. And for that you deservedly, once again, earned this week's Stu Pitt Award!
his country from its government."
- Thomas Paine, American patriot (1737 - 1809)
