Michael T. J. Mullen’s piece “Enslaving the future” (Aug. 22) gravely warns that if We The People choose to get our power from a facility owned by—egads!—We The People, we are treading on the thin ice of full-blown Stalinist, Leninist communism! My God—won’t someone think of the children!
Is Mullen even aware of the origins of the electrical grid? Here’s a hint: Look up “Rural Electrification Project” Yes, that’s right: Just like our socialist interstate highway system, We The People built the electrical grid. And the dams that provide them with power.
Some utilities were later sold to private, for-profit companies; some were not. Guess who gets cheaper rates? Citizens who get publicly owned power, that’s who. Turns out profit is an added cost. Who knew? Privatization also encourages these utilities to cut corners on maintenance in order to increase profit. Who gets to pay for the resulting fires? We The People, with our lives and treasure.
Nothing in our Constitution prohibits We The People from collectively owning and operating any freaking thing that we want. Believe it or not, that’s called “freedom.”
Forcing us to put profit in the pockets of a negligent private company, PG&E, that is slavery.
Sean R. Shealy
San Luis Obispo
This article appears in Aug 29 – Sep 8, 2019.
Sean,
It is not clear to me that PG&E is any different than government itself. It is very bureaucratic, inefficient,incompetent and expensive. Like almost all large institutions, it is incapable of operating only with respect to the purposes for which it was created. Indeed, it has become a highly politicized entity and I doubt that its being taken over by government would be noticed by anyone.
The tragedy is that we do not have a vigorously private, competent and disciplined purveyor of energy (energy is one of those uniquely “public” activities, because there are few opportunities for effective competition). In any event, the benefits of private competition are quickly being swept away by the new world of folks who do not understand the discipline of the raw profit motive and the incentives it provides to make everyone better off. For now, count on expanding and incompetent bureaucracies, as people fail to appreciate the benefits of direct incentives and competition
John Goodrich
Well said.