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Sunday, May 07, 2017

Water solutions are out there

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for April 5, 2017)




Water is a necessary ingredient for life, second only to air in importance. Even our food supply depends on the ready availability of water.

Our primary local water supply, the Ogallala Aquifer, is dwindling, Whether or not you believe this is an imminent threat, there is no doubt it's not being replenished fast enough to keep up with demand. This can't continue without causing real trouble at some point in the future. For some people in the area, the future is now.

Several factors over many years have led to this situation, and there won't be a single, immediate solution.

Governments over the aquifer ignored the warnings; they encouraged and subsidized irresponsible usage. They encouraged water-intensive businesses to locate in the area. Their hunger for ever-increasing amounts of tax money blinded them to long-term reality.

Now, many look to these same governments to provide solutions, including an expensive, temporary patch. Relying on a reservoir as a solution, when the reservoir depends upon fickle precipitation, is not exactly thinking ahead. It's the equivalent of believing you'll be OK after the water is shut off to your house because you can use the water in your water heater tank. To spend tax money on this patch aggravates the problem.

Of course, knowing what not to do still doesn't mean I know how to solve it.

Perhaps our area simply isn't suited for the population which now lives here. It's possible. Sometimes truth isn't pleasant. I don't recommend giving up quite yet, though.

Maybe there are ways to replenish the aquifer, or better ways to recycle the water we use. I'll bet there are technological fixes which could be found or invented if the regulators would get out of the way. For example, new water-collecting materials which draw water from the atmosphere have been tested. Obviously these work better in places with higher humidity, but the technology is still young. Given a profit motive, someone would figure out a way to provide water where it's needed.

If you are under the impression that water provided by government is free, while business is greedy and costly, perhaps you'd like to put the state's motor vehicle bureaucracy in charge of distributing and selling gasoline. Free-market business (not a government-granted monopoly rife with cronyism) would be cheaper and better. Nothing is free, and businesses must convince you to trade with them, while government simply says "pay or else!" Serious issues deserve serious consideration; that's no place for government.


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Outnumbered and surrounded

Concerning "immigration", no, I don't want to be outnumbered and surrounded by people who feel entitled to violate my life, liberty, and property. But... I already am whether there are immigrants or not, just because almost everyone is statist, and that is the defining characteristic of statists. That there is an "immigration control" debate is proof that I am outnumbered and surrounded.

It might be unrealistic to insist that property rights be respected and "welfare" be eliminated to make "immigration" a non-issue, but it's no less unrealistic to believe government will keep out people who advance its agenda of ever-increasing socialism. It needs them and will do whatever it takes to get them where they can be used. If "the borders" are "secured", and "immigration" is controlled, you can be certain it will be done in such a way that the State's agenda won't be threatened in the slightest. If that means using "loopholes", ignoring the "laws", or some other tactic, it WILL be done. They want it too badly to stop.

So, yes, "immigration control" will only be done in ways that grow the State, in size and in power. Believing otherwise is completely unrealistic. This is something "more" or "better" government will not solve to your liking. Ever.

If you're going to be "unrealistic" anyway, you may as well be principled while doing so.


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This blog, like all of KentforLiberty.com, is reader supported. 
Any donations or subscriptions are GREATLY appreciated! Thank you.