The Lone Libertarian

There are two conservative radio personalities in Memphis I am directing this post at, Mike Fleming and Ben Ferguson.  I know they probably wont answer in kind, but maybe a conservative that thinks like them can explain.

Yesterday, they both exploded over the “nationalization of oil” talk being espoused by House and Senate Democrats.  The talk show hosts went down the long list of reasons why nationalizing the domestic oil industry would introduce inefficiencies, price increases, and supply shortages.  Kudos to them for this, as I agree, government control over anything usually produces a sub-par product that is sometimes lower than even the least common denominator.

However, neither host was able to satisfactorily explain why the city of Memphis should not sell Memphis Light Gas and Water (the local public utility) to private industry.  Why say that one energy industry shouldn’t be nationalized, when you are fighting for a different energy company to stay public?  Kudos to the several liberal and ultra conservatives that called in, exposing this hypocrisy.  Listening to the respective hosts, they both floundered around and mostly let callers duke it out.  Some callers cited areas where public utilities went private and rates went up.  It was all a bunch of he-said, she-said.

I know that the sale of MLGW has been a pet project of Mayor Willie Herenton since he took office, and rears its head at least once a term, but what is so conservative about a government run power company, and not about a government run oil company?  For a Democrat, Mayor Herenton is pretty darn conservative on this issue.

MLGW has been in the news many times over the past several years due to public mishandling, scandal, and unqualified board members.  It would seem to me that removing politics from running a utility company would probably save people money on their energy bills starting on day one.

Someone please explain this “have your cake and eat it too”, unprincipled philosophy.