The Freezing Death of Texans

admin Thu, 02/18/2021 - 00:00

As I write, huge swaths of Texas have no power, maybe 3 million people, and the government response has been to hold on until it warms up. Republican Governor Greg Abbott did nothing to prepare the state for this massive snow storm and freeze, and is doing nothing now but blaming renewable energy and Texans are dying.

This mess is predicated by long standing issues. Similar freezes in in 2011 and 1985 proved their uninsulated power stations and natural gas pipelines were an issue, yet the Republican run state did nothing.

Another long standing issue, the Texas power grid is independent from the rest of the United States. As America's leading energy producing state, they didn't want the regulation and federal influence from joining the rest of the energy grid. So now they can't just pipe in more electricity from neighboring states.

The reason for the independent grid is that it gives the state additional power, since no federal guidelines apply to how they generate, distribute and charge for the energy. And because the only motivation is profit, people are freezing in Texas. They don't need no stinkin' insulation.

This unholy alliance between corporate interests and states has undermined citizen interests for decades. Ever since the Barry Goldwater led the 'government is bad' movement, corporate interests have worked along side legislators from both parties to achieve their position of control and manipulation. No where is this more true than Texas. Evan as poor folk in Texas are freezing to death.

How many times, in this corporate controlled culture, will we let this vile tool of the elites destroy the lives of our sisters and brothers? How much reckless drive for profit at the result of all else is needed to convince us that corporations are the enemy of the people?

How long must we have endless wars, GMO foods, dirty air and water, destroyed and polluted ecosystems, just to feed this horrific, insatiable, insane tool of the less than 1%? How much longer will we find ourselves servants and slaves to the all-devouring monster of the elite? How much longer until we realize the legal status of 'The Corporation' must end, so that true capitalism can thrive?

'The Corporation' would have you believe that the world can't exist without them, yet we know this is untrue. Capitalism, the honest system of choosing among products and services from competing vendors, is totally undermined by the corporation. And as we can clearly see today, the corporation is no friend of healthy cultures. The singular profit motive make the corporation a terrible partner to communities everywhere. Let's try coops.

We know that this abnormal weather is the result of a polar vortex, which is a result of the climate chaos we are in the midst of. Corporations, with their lie and deny mantra, are very much responsible for the people freezing to death in Texas. It doesn't have to be this way. If the citizens of Texas owned the power system via a coop model, do you think they would find profits more important than a system that is functional in cold weather? The state officials and the energy corporations are both liable, and both refuse to acknowledge their failures. Not good.

I don't know all the answers, yet I well appreciate that we have options. We need to enable the ideas that support healthy and thriving communities. We must invest in activities that thwart the corporations as best we can, which involves localism. And we must stop electing fools, and focus on legislators that understand the depths of our sickness, and fight for a new dawn.

World 5.0

The Freezing Death of Texans