Whether it is toilets that don't flush, light bulbs that don't work with dimmer switches, underpowered and undersized vehicles, more expensive energy sources... the issue is that government uses the philosophy that if a little is good, a lot is really good.

Many of us remember when emission controls were mandated.  My wife and I had driven through the gas collector that is the San Bernardino Valley in 1968 and we couldn't open the windows of our car because the air was so acrid.  Pittsburgh wasn't much better with the steel mills.  But rather than address local issues with low-cost reasonable solutions, the government chose to penalize an entire nation with products that were not ready for prime time.

I would be glad to buy an LED bulb for a recessed lighting fixture... but not for $60-100 apiece.  Let the marketplace work.  If someone has a better idea, they offer it as a high end alternative.  Gradually, the product works its way through the marketplace and the price drops with volume.  The $8,000 42" TV becomes the $800 42" TV.

I can appreciate Sen. Paul's comment about toilets.  We just bought three for our new home at $400 each... just to get flushing power from a 1.28 gpf system using well water.  I think we could have done nicely with a 2 gpf at 1/4 the price.