Having solved all the other problems in Florida like, drug trafficking, suicidal binge-drinking by teens on spring break, and astonishing voter incompetence, Florida officials are tackling the monumentally important task of water usage enforcement...City inspectors, armed with citation books, will cruise the streets ready to pounce if they find a sprinkler operating illegally. Neighbors will be encouraged to rat each other out for watering on the wrong day. Helicopters will hover above farms and golf courses, taking satellite coordinates of pumps operating in violation of water-shortage orders.
Look, I understand about water conservation during droughts and I recognize that many people don't care and will use all the water they want rather than inconvenience themselves one bit but, the State encouraging neighbors to snitch on each other doesn't sit too well with me. It's reminiscent of Nazi Germany indoctrinating children to rat out their parents. People will tell on each other without encouragement from the government. My solution: just restrict consumption to a percentage of normal consumption. After that the price for additional usage goes up by 10 fold. That should just about take care of unnecessary lawn watering.
Anytime you can employ the forces associated with the free market to a consumer issue, it's better than employing the enforcement power of the State against the citizens.
1 comment:
Ed, the people cannot always be trusted to do the right thing. Sometimes the government has to step in, in the interest of the common good. Water conservation serves the common good in Florida and it's a proper function of government to enforce it. You conservatives think that acting in your own self interests in the marketplace is the solution to all of life's problems. All that is, is wastefulness. Government isn't always evil.
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