Why Have We Allowed The Government To Regulate Commodes?

{Editor’s Note: This is the 10th installment of a series of articles attempting to address the 32 questions posed by Ron Paul in his recent farewell speech given in front of Congress. Check out the previous installment, Why Should There Be Mandatory Sentences For Crimes Without Victims, As Our Drug Laws Require?}When it came time to research this article, I have to admit that even I, with all my incessant rambling about all of the ills of the State, didn't realize that there were specific government regulations regarding toilets.  Sounds ridiculous, no? But I should have figured. Is it really any more ridiculous than telling people which light bulbs to buy or putting sick people in jail for using medical marijuana?The regulation of commodes stems from the Energy Policy Act of 1992.  The premise of this act was to set standards of energy use and conservation.  It set regulations for all sorts of forms of energy as well as ordered many federal buildings to conserve energy where they can.  Now there is nothing wrong with conserving energy of course. But there is no greater conserver of energy than a free market, which responds to supply and demand with price signals that can appropriately allocate resources.  Of course, these ideas are uninteresting to lawmakers, who must constantly justify their existence by passing laws to fix all of society's ills.In the case of the Energy Policy Act, one of these ills was apparently the "excessive" amount of water used by toilets.  The Act called for mandating the installation of only low flush toilets, which use 1.6 gallons of water per flush, as opposed to the 3.5 gallons older flush toilets use, in both residential and commercial venues.  The low flush toilet is now a mandate nationwide, despite the fact that many people complain the low flush toilet doesn't work well and that they have to flush twice to get the desired result.Now I'm no math whiz, but if the new toilet uses half as much water but needs to be flushed twice as often, aren't we still using the same amount of water? Does this make any sense at all?Why have we allowed the federal government to regulate commodes in our homes?The idea that government should be determining proper usage of water in people's homes stems from the acceptance of water as a generally socialized commodity.  Most homes are supplied water by a State or local monopoly, and in the case of public water it is typically governments, not markets, that determine where, how and at what price water is delivered to consumers.  In a free market, supply and demand would allocate water most efficiently through the pricing mechanism. The free market is always more efficient than central planning in allocating resources, whether it's food, shoes, cars, or water.Until society as a whole begins to fully understand and study the power of free markets, we will surely see the insanity continue.  The acceptance of government mandates of everything from the lightbulbs we use to what size sodas we drink to how much water our commodes should use will remain prevalent until the people awaken to the ideas of liberty, and government central planning becomes a thing of the past.Let's get to spreading that message folks! While we're still allowed to flush our toilets at all!Receive access to ALL of our EXCLUSIVE bonus audio content – including “Conspiracy Corner”, “Degenerate Gamblers” and the “League of Liberty Podcast” by joining the Lions of Liberty Pride and supporting us on Patreon!