The truism, “No man’s life, liberty or property are safe when the Legislature is in session,” is variously attributed to Ben Franklin, Adlai Stevenson and, recently, to Lucius Flatley of Gorham.

Flatley was triggered by the recent burst of methane emanating from the capitol dome in Augusta having to do with light bulbs. While our poor governor is losing what little hair he has left over budget shortfalls that may require closing schools and putting some elderly out on the ice, the Legislature is occupied in at least one proposal that bids fair to have an adverse effect on “life, liberty and property.”

Back in the days of gun-toting militias, smallpox, powdered wigs and stretch breeches – a period in which Justices Alioto and Thomas would have felt comfortable (if seriously unequal) – the folks who designed the Maine Legislature intended that the second session of each annual Legislature should concern itself only with such immediate problems as hostile Indians or pugnacious British frigates. With the second year effectively tied down, the forefathers felt, citizens could breathe easy for one more year.

But not now. Legislative sessions have become a home for bloviation, the latest of which is a proposal to promptly outlaw the use of incandescent light bulbs in Maine. The National Energy Act already requires a change from incandescent to fluorescents (CFLs) by 2020, but a couple of Maine’s more anxious legislators, apparently unaware that every law has a consequence – and that such consequence often thwacks life, liberty or property – propose that Maine completes this change by 2012, eight years earlier than everyone else.

CFLs already cost three times more than their replacements, a price certain to be aggravated by increased demand in the near future. Some people who will have to buy these expensive new bulbs might prefer, or need, to use that money for something else.

To replace incandescent lights with fluorescents is a worthwhile goal. They use less electricity and reduce greenhouse gases (except for those who draw their energy from wind power). But Flatley thinks it’s a goal to reach by degrees; a goal best directed through the marketplace rather than police. He likened it to curbs on total house light. He asked if these creative thinkers would restrict the number of lights in a house like Mr. Gore’s famous mansion – the one that sends Fox News and Rush Limbaugh into a frenzy.

Flatley also noted that the proposal has wrinkles, since it will make exception for “marine” or “heat lamps.” What exactly is “marine” use? And what is a heat lamp bulb? How about an incandescent bulb under the hood of a car in below-zero weather?

How about dairies and farms that need more light? How about the cost of enforcement? Are we to have incandescent SWAT teams? Bulb police? Right of entry? Will we patrol Home Depot and Wal-Mart only, or corner drug stores, also? Shall we establish a fund for a new CFL bulb-relief bill, something like the present heating oil assistance for low-income folks?

Previously not known as an environmentalist himself, Flatley also mentioned that CLFs contain mercury and require special handling and disposal procedures.

He summed up his thoughts thusly:

“Legislators who would use police to drive us, regardless of circumstance and income, into this expensive future, years ahead of Big Brother in Washington, illustrate whence cometh the term ‘dim bulb.'”

Rodney Quinn, who lives in Gorham, is a former Maine secretary of state. He can be reached at [email protected]. His book, “Gorham During the Great Depression,” can be purchased a the Baxter Memorial Library. Proceeds benefit the library.