The True Failure
Though seemingly impossible from the seat in his wheelchair, governor Greg Abbott has been doing the Texas Side Step now going on two weeks since the days-long massive power failure and other cascading events, including the failure of water systems throughout the state. He’s blaming everyone but himself, backed up by a chorus of other conservative Republican libertarian politicians.
Let’s again place blame where the responsibility for this catastrophe actually lay – in the laps of every statewide and legislative politician who has served at any time during the last 25 years. Late last week, Texas Monthly laid out the history of power deregulation in Texas and the disaster it predictably precipitated. Not only is Texas an island unto itself when it comes to power, this island is less reliable, AND Texans get to pay more for that privilege.
The fallout from this disaster is an open wound to Texas voters, even as Abbott has shot a few hostages and is now urging the state to “move on”. He’s urging an investigation into ERCOT, the state’s grid manager, but has ignored the actual problem – him, the two previous governors, Perry and GWB, and the state legislature that has had a single party death grip on power for 19 years in the House and 25 years in the Senate. Even after calls for tightening regulations after the 2011 and 2017 blackouts, the legislature, under conservative Republican libertarian leadership let every single bill mandating standards and winterizing to die in committee, just so no conservative Republican libertarian would have been forced to vote against it. And Abbott has now blamed everyone but himself and the cronies he installed at the real problem, the Texas PUC.
This is the point of conservatism Repubulicanism libertarianism power – you get all the perks, but don’t take responsibility when something goes wrong. Here are some other really clear examples of conservatism Repubulicanism libertarianism that has gripped our state and federal government now for decades: 1) The US Senate and House delegating their Constitutional trade authority to the president; 2) Delegating acts of war to the President (Patriot Act, and others); 3) Pushing the responsibility of care for the mentally ill to the states, but unfunded (Reagan); 4) Privatizing (prisons, air traffic functions, military support functions, and numerous other functions totaling hundreds of billions of dollars per year; 5) Failing to address the Coronavirus pandemic; 6) Delegating all pandemic response to the states (unfunded). It goes on and on. Even conservative Repubulican libertarian Florida governor Ron DeSantis declared this last weekend that he believes NO vaccine distribution plan for his state is best. You see, if you don’t make a decision, you can’t get blamed.
Conservatism Repubulicanism libertarianism works great until it doesn’t. This is not a matter of ideology here; this is the difference between people who believe in government and those who don’t. We have now had a state controlled for two and a half decades by those who don’t believe in a functioning government, and the results are not pretty.
Will freezing Texans in the dark for days change votes? One would only hope.
But these politicians do make decisions. They decide they would like corporate contributions that they can use for just about anything, including re-election if necessary. I vote in every election, but it gets harder and harder to care.
1I’m beginning to believe nothing will change until there is a Great Shortening.
2The politicians were doing exactly as their natures dictated. I don’t blame a crook for being a crook, I blame the ignorant aholes who thought it a good idea to vote them into office. So I hope the voters enjoyed their winter! And those that voted against the ahole crooks, I’m sorry you had to suffer their incompetence.
3Bankruptcy Cascade
Headline: Texas electricity firm files for bankruptcy citing $1.8 billion in claims from grid operator
Edit: The city of Denton, in north Texas, last week sued ERCOT in a state court to prevent it from charging it for fees unpaid by other users of the grid. Denton Electric could face tens of millions of dollars for fees that were not collected from others
video:
4https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bankruptcy-brazoselectric-texas-outag/texas-electricity-firm-files-for-bankruptcy-citing-1-8-billion-in-claims-from-grid-operator-idUSKCN2AT1FE
Can’t comprehend a utility model of bushels of carrots and no sticks for failure. But feel this is going to get real vicious based on the reuters article.
One starts to think about spitballing ideas or options like moratoriums on customer’s bills, selling bonds, raising sales taxes or forced emergency plans to bring solar, wind power by taxing the fossil fuel industry out of their subsidies. Doing any of it falls to the corrupt who made it possible in the first place.
5As an outsider, I think I need a spot with a brief description of the Texas Tribulations: natural extremes, like the cold snap are obviously signs of God’s disfavor … then the Texas corporations and ability to make a buck under nearly any situation … then the Texas Republicans in office who let the corporations do that … then the Texas lawyers bringing various suits, counter-suits, bankruptcy claims,
what’s next? Egypt had 10 plagues — and Texas does everything bigger, so do they get up to 12?
6Texas politicians can do what they want with their own power grid if two conditions are met; 1.) The transmission lines don’t allow interconnection with any other grid system outside Texas, and 2.) They don’t come whining and crying to the ENTIRE REST OF THE DAMN COUNTRY when the inevitable catastrophic failure drops on ’em like a God-sized ton of bricks.
Time for Libertarians to man-up.
7You should try living in South Dakota! Our ‘government’ here has been run by conservative Republicans for over 45 years and we’re known as the “Mississippi of the North” for good reason! But, you Texans seem to like (love) our Cowgirl Kristi governor ‘cuz she flies on our taxpayer dime to Texas for big fundraiser galas and then to CPAC in Florida to spread more conservative BS as Trump’s
8wannabe “lil gal”! Wonder if he gave her the “Trump Treatment” as he bragged on in the bus interview in ’16?!!!