By Committee

They teach you that when you find yourself on thin ice the first thing you do is lay flat before moving. The idea is that you spread out your weight as much as possible so that weaker spots don't bear such force that would cause them to crack.

Well we have fallen right through, locally at least. We recently voted to shut not renew a contract with the state's largest (almost only) supplier of energy. While I agree with the vote (do to the unsafe and untrustworthy practices of the company) I cannot help but lament why we let our selves get into this pickle. Now we do not know where our energy will come from or how much it will cost. We were complacent with a cure-all and now that solution has turned sour and we are in a bit of trouble.

My conclusion from this is that we need to take the things in our communities that are not government operated and supply them by committee. Instead of having 90% of your power coming from one source spread it out so that if that source fails then your situation is less cataclysmic.

If we lost 20 percent of our power, then the financial and sociological burden on our greater community would be lessened, allowing the haves to focus more on the have nots. When 90% of the population are the have nots, then you have only 10% with the resources to help.

I realize that this is not a universally applicable rule, but I think it is an important method, although slightly more complicated, than putting all of our eggs in one basket when possible.