I’m seeing weird discussion online about the calamitous
drought in California and the state’s increasingly strict controls on water
usage.
To wit, it seems there is now public debate about whether
folks have the “right” to buy as much water as they want, with some invocation
of “free market” principles.
This is scary. I’m waiting for some appeal to the Wizard of
Oz.
Let’s just call it like it is: the drought affects everyone
and the dubious benefits or moral scruples of
the “free market” aren't going to
supply a fix. Appeals to notions of personal liberties and free market solutions don’t get more ridiculous than this. In fact, the so-called “free market” is partly responsible for
the desperate pickle that so many Californians are wantonly trying to ignore—property
owners and business owners are madly pursuing their legal freedom to drill more
wells even as the supplies of surface water are drying up and the underground aquifers
are drying out.
There are folks in the Golden State who are arguing that
they should be able to buy and use as much water as they’re willing to pay for.
They don’t get it: there isn’t enough water in California
right now.
Rich homeowners and wealthy farmers are going to be singing
a different tune if water stops coming out of their pipes.
Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2015 All rights reserved.
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