Yes, we messed up on electricity. But the Texas way of governing is far from broken.
The great winter storm of February 2021 has been just awful for most Texans.
But for those who look for any reason to bash Texas and, in specific, its conservative leadership, it’s been intoxicating. They’ve spent days in the warm bath of schadenfreude, even to the point of mocking Texans who understandably didn’t have the equipment or know-how to deal with perhaps the worst winter freeze the state has ever known.
It didn’t help that leaders such as Sen. Ted Cruz served up golden opportunities for criticism with his ridiculous trip to Cancun. Others spent time in a political snit over renewable energy while Texans were melting snow to flush their toilets.
There’s no question that Texas government and industry failed to prepare for this crisis or deal with it well when it arrived. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas proved inept at the worst possible time. The Legislature and recent governors deserve scrutiny for years of decision-making.
Let’s tap the brakes, though, on declaring Texas’ entire philosophy of governing rotten. One of the maddening features of our political debates these days is the effort to wrap every event into The One True Narrative. Life is rarely so neat.
No system is perfect. But one week, awful though it was, doesn’t negate decades of prudent governance that have made Texas the premier destination for both people and businesses.
It wasn’t a mistake to make energy relatively cheap and abundant. It draws business and fuels growth, and economic growth improves lives in ways no government program ever can. Combined with a dedication to low taxes and unoppressive regulation, Texas has become a place where businesses can thrive, home ownership is possible and jobs are plentiful. Not many other large population centers can boast a similar sustained record.
Indeed, look at the competition. California? The Golden State practically invented rolling blackouts after years of denial about its energy needs. New York? That state can’t empty out fast enough. Illinois? It essentially exists to pay lavish benefits to its unionized public sector workers.
That’s one burden, thankfully, that Texas doesn’t have. Cities and states that have poured out overly generous pensions and benefits to public workers are in constant budgetary trouble.
In Texas, teachers actually want to go to work and school boards are mostly looking for ways to keep the doors open for the sake of children. In other states, teacher unions are forsaking science and willfully hurting children by refusing to work, and Democratic leaders, beholden to their campaign donations, are going along.
Still, the Texas electricity crisis is real and must be addressed. Like any state, we have long-neglected infrastructure needs. Our political leadership is weakened by years of one-party rule; politics, like genetics, benefits from diversity. And our government, with power deliberately dispersed among multiple levels, makes it hard to get big stuff done.
Our leaders need to take climate change seriously and prepare for its effects. But it’s better to take measured, thoughtful steps than engage in overwrought, worst-case scenario panic that threatens to gut our economy and way of life.
On the issue of the moment, reliable electricity, we need a thorough debate about what it will take to prevent another week like this and how to pay for it. Gov. Greg Abbott, despite early missteps, is pushing for winterization of power plants, an obvious but expensive starting point.
The focus needs to be on specific policies. To govern is to balance tradeoffs. It takes no courage to call for more government spending and regulation as the solution to every problem. Making necessary investments and placing mandates upon business without stifling growth is much harder.
So, sure, let’s evaluate what went wrong and do better. But before throwing out the entire Lone Star way, we should ask ourselves the question that Texas bashers never can adequately address:
If it’s so bad, why do so dang many people keep coming here?
