Democracy is not the answer; I am not going to throw my alderman out of office because of this one issue. Voting with my feet is not a realistic option either; I have too much invested in living in Calgary. I should have the right to decide, and then to execute that decision with a call to my broker.
The bottom line is that we should not be forced to own anything. We should be free to own or not to own as we wish.
Let us be rid of this nuisance and menace: Nuisance because it is an expensive distraction to our City leaders, and a menace because it attacks, every day in every way, our economic freedom and liberty. These persistent and creeping erosions of our liberty are expensive and worrisome to anyone who is thoughtful and considered in their views, (such as anyone who agrees with me on this and other points.)
I had not intended to get on a rant about freedom, but what better time than now? We seem to have lost the sense of importance of freedom and liberty. They seem like such ‘old school’ ideas. Only paleo-fogies would worry about such things; after all, we have conquered the matter, we have assured liberty and freedom. But the definition of the words seems to have evolved, and not in a positive manner.
There is no doubt in my mind that some reading these words will question the linkage between the taxpayers of Calgary owning Enmax and liberty and economic freedom. We are so acclimatized to public ownership of such entities, that we don’t immediately see the threat to economic freedom in the compulsory and forced asymmetrical returns and risk that I have commented upon earlier. We accept them without question.
The iconic canary in the coal mine has long since died. The carcass has rotted, and all that is left is a clean skeleton. The urgency of the death and the stench of the rot has passed, and the clean-picked skeleton is kind of cute.
Previously on Enmax:
What would life be like if Calgary sold Enmax?
You should not be forced to own Enmax
What would selling Enmax mean? Perspective 1
What would selling Enmax mean? Perspective 2
Images from Flickr CC
Alex Clauss, Aviary
Pamela Stocks, Ex-Canary
MisterQueue, Hidden Things