Life is not simple. Period end of story. We are always trying to make it simple and easy and more convenient. What happens in the process is we make it more complicated and cumbersome. When problems arise simple actions such as turning off a faucet, closing a door, or turning off the TV can be the fix we need.
I grew up in north central Texas. We had ice storms and snow. It honestly was not that uncommon. Sometimes there were bad storms; whileother times not so difficult. Our process was the same, thaw hoses, break ice, and feed cattle. The recent polar vortex storm was a little different. There were a lot of factors that complicated this storm, with the main one being how long it lasted.
The power grid in Texas could not handle the load of power demand. The governing body of the group that controls the power grid in Texas decided blackouts and outages were the way to fix the issue. There are a lot of factors that complicated this process. The ERCOT board failed to winterize the wind turbines and electric plants properly. They sold off part of our energy reserves last fall not thinking we would need them this winter. Before the storm hit, ERCOT refused to buy the power reserves back at a premium.
Wind is a supplemental supply of energy in Texas and provides anywhere from 25-40% of our total energy. By most accounts before the storm hit, wind provided 25-30% of our energy the week before the storm. During the storm 8%. The wind turbines froze up due to lack of proper winterization. The rest of the energy plants were taking up the slack and their systems were freezing as well.
Governor Greg Abbott issued a disaster declaration on February 12th for the winter storms. President Biden approved that declaration. Nothing was sent to Texas. No national guard deployed. No reserve generators placed in neighborhoods. No relief centers set up. In true Texas fashion, local towns and communities came together to take care of their own.
Farmers and ranchers were left to fend for themselves. Many had no power, water, or assistance. Those that did have water and power still struggled to keep themselves and the livestock alive. Every county in Texas froze, snow on the beaches of Texas, crops in south Texas - everything froze.
Texas has 1 governor, 31 Senators in the state Capitol, and 150 members in the house at the state Capitol. Then there are 2 senators that represent us in Washington along with 36 house of representatives. As usual the media, and most people in general, ignores certain facts and details.
Many people want there to be one person to blame, just one person held accountable for what is wrong. This is never the case. There are a multitude of people and problems to blame. There is no simple fix. People will continue to point fingers at others across the aisle. Everything that has gone wrong in the last 12 months is a failure of government. State, local and national. Not one senator, not a governor, not a president, and not a single person. It’s a cumulative total of a magnitude of people and factors.
Mayors and governors let cities burn and people die in the name of social justice, at a cost of over 50 lives, billions of dollars in damage, and the future of our children. The speaker of the house and capitol police are in charge of security. They did not allow capitol police to bring in extra support before January 6th. It was denied. The capitol police wanted that assistance because they knew in advance of credible threats. The national government sat back and watched the second largest state in the country freeze to death and they did nothing. Our state government sat back and did nothing. It was the mayors and local governments that provided warming stations, and any sort of assistance.
Neighbors helped each other, farmers helped other farmers, rednecks with their jacked-up trucks delivered wood for people to burn and food to those they could reach. It was our fellow man that stepped up. Not the government.
As many of you sit back and point fingers at a group or a person, you are lying to yourself and others. There is never a simple fix to problems. Many factors go into failures of the magnitudes we have seen in the last 12 months. None of which is one man’s fault. It is the fault of the government. Government is the problem, social media fact checkers are the problem, censorship is the problem, mainstream media is the problem, and people who are so devolved into one mentality of how life should be is the problem.
It’s time for people to finally wake up and stop relying on people who are not experts to make decisions that affect our lives. It’s time for people to start questioning more, especially from our government. And, question all sides of the political aisle -not just the side you are not on,
We are a great nation with great people, and we are a nation worth fighting for at the end of the day. Stop blaming others for the problems you created, start questioning the government on why they are doing what they are doing. If we do more of that and trust our fellow man, we will see a lot less division and anger. You see, poverty, homelessness, and mental illness does not discriminate. It affects every one of every color, religious background, women, men, and children. There is no simple fix for any of this, there never will be. We have to take on the responsibility of bettering our lives and country, buckle down, and make it work..
“Freedom makes a huge requirement of every human being. With freedom comes responsibility. For the person who is unwilling to grow up, the person who does not want to carry his own weight, this is a frightening prospect.” - Eleanor Roosevelt
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