More on “Utilities Wage Campaign Against Rooftop Solar”

I wrote earlier that the entire system whereby power utilities operate under regulation here in the U.S. faces a considerable challenge as an ever-growing number of solar users defect from the grid, thus raising the price of power for those who remain.  Yet we can’t simply say, “Oh well, poor people won’t be able to afford electricity anymore.”

I’m reminded of the conversation on (U.S. passenger railway) Amtrak that comes up every couple of years. Republicans want to defund the railroad because it’s not profitable, and they receive great support from the rank and file Tea Partiers, who predictably are mad as hornets over this or anything else that government does that requires an investment from the taxpayer.

Fortunately, most educated people say: Look, providing a railway system across the United States is something we simply ought to do, even if it costs the citizen a few bucks. That’s what countries in the developed world have been doing for the last 150 years. It works like this: The government provides services, the citizens use them, and gladly pay for them.  It’s not communism; it’s good sense, and establishes a business and tourist-friendly country that is successful in the modern world.  It’s really just that simple.  Europe, Japan, Brazil have modern railways.  Mali doesn’t.  It doesn’t really take too much intelligence to work this out.

Of course, the same argument holds to providing electricity and mail delivery.  Whether we have solar on our roofs or not, we all need to share in the costs of making these things happen for everyone who lives here.

Sooner or later we’re going to realize that this applies to healthcare as well.  OMG.  Did I just say that?  🙂