California is now one of six states that have banned personal computers with power comsumption that is too high, which would include many gaming PCs currently on the market.

The other five states are Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington.

I’m shocked. Of all the many stupid, stupid things that California has done, this is up there among the worst. Like, up there with banning drinking straws. And to make it worse, five states have gone along with it.

Why is this even a thing? Who really believes that the power draw of gaming PCs is such an issue that it warrants a ban on these computers? If a person is willing to pay the electric bill, why would this be an issue? And why am I suddenly suspicious that this may be part of a cockamamie effort to limit BitCoin mining?

Does anyone believe that plastic straws account for a tremendous amount of discarded recyclable plastic? Or that the power draw of gaming PCs is more significant than air conditioning? Would you believe that, a few years back, legislation was actually considered that would have banned encryption?

If you’re a gamer in one of the six listed states, you might end up getting fragged by reason of state government interference when it comes to what computer you can own. Are you ready for it, Californians? You’re about to suck at gaming, and it’s no fault of your own.

Of course, you can just buy individual components and put your own gaming rig together. But if you go that route, then hello PC gaming money trap. That can add up in a hurry.

But it’s not so bad if you’re a game journalist that’s bad at gaming, since you can use the performance of your PC as an out against “git gud” taunts.

Adding to the irony is that California is supposed to be the tech capital of the world. Apple is headquartered there, as is Google. HP, Adobe, and Facebook are headquartered there, too.

Look Californians, I know that you like the color blue. I get it. But you really need to stop voting stupid people into power, however much you may want to see your state collapse.

I believe that environmental responsibility is a good thing. If we might run out of fresh water, then it follows that it would help to keep water consumption at a reasonable level. If electrical consumption had a huge environmental impact, then it’s not a bad idea to run the AC on power-saving mode at times. Because a person could save money doing these things, there’s an incentive.

But do political elites really give a care about the environment? How do they act on what they know when they take a private jet to accept an environmentalism award? Is Bob Dole doing his part when he buys a mansion with over a dozen more toilets than a man needs? Does Obama believe the sea levels are rising when he buys oceanfront property in Hawaii?

If the political elites cared about the environment, they’d practice what they preach. But they don’t. The political elites are raping the land for every last trace of wealth that they could possibly extract from it, so they can die rich. But as for you, they want you to consume less, so they can consume more.

Do you know what the political elites call ordinary people when they are behind closed doors? Mouths. They are Malthusian, viewing you in terms of the resources you consume. They don’t care about you, and they don’t care about the environment.

Now, it’s gotten to the point that Dell (headquartered in Texas) is canceling sales for PCs in their Alienware line to the six states mentioned above. Does this means that Microsoft’s corporate headquarters in Washington aren’t getting their high-end PCs? Or are corporations immune?

Yet more reason to be careful to not allow the outrageously incompetent into positions of power.