The Capitol Insurrection Took Place at the Wrong Capitol, It Should Have Occurred at Austin, TX, to Prevent Economicide

As Sen. Ted Cruz and other Republicans rushed back to Texas after coming under fire for fleeing to warm vacation hotspots while their constituents faced devastating power outages, water disruptions, food shortages, and even hypothermia, Governor Gregg Abbot appeared on the Sean Hannity Show on Fox and blamed Texas’s power outages on the Green New Deal, specifically wind and solar power. (1) It was another lie, to try and hide how a state’s congress dominated by Republicans pursued a policy of economic Libertarianism and extreme financialization.

Texas had been “seconds and minutes” away from catastrophic blackouts that would have lasted months, primarily due to twenty years of financial scheming and corporate lobbying which led to deregulating the electric grid, privatizing the grid under a corporation like Enron: The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), and two risk-taking governor’s and Republican congress that decided to leave Mexico’s and the national power grid so the state would not be subject to federal regulations and oversight. (2)

The lack of oversight resulted in Texas’ coal, nuclear, and natural gas electric grids freezing as the winter storm swept across the state. Wind turbines, which account for only 13 percent of the state’s energy, did freeze. But this was due to not upgrading to a proper lubricant or maintaining the turbines. The disaster not only provides the latest example of economic Libertarianism and extreme financialization, but it is the latest example of the chronic lack of disaster preparedness that over the years has plagued government at all levels.

As communities suffered from a lack of electricity and water for five days, the extreme cold killed over 20 Texans in their bedrooms, vehicles, and backyards. Other victims and even entire families perished in house fires. The dimensions of a public health crisis exacerbated by poverty and desperation made things worse. Health providers saw hundreds-if not thousands-of visits related to hypothermia, carbon monoxide poisoning, and toxic exposure from people burning charcoal or furniture and treated lumber in their homes. (3)

The weather also hampered the response to the coronavirus pandemic, where many of the state’s elderly remain on a waiting list due to a lack of planning and coordination to distribute the vaccine. Moreover, Texas hospitals spent the week grappling with burst pipes, power outages and acute water shortages, making it difficult to care for patients. One hospital alone reported two deaths after they were unable to get oxygen and dialysis treatment. In some cases, life-saving surgeries had to be postponed. Inmates and ICE detainees also were found dead.

Critics say politicians like Cruz and Abbot are emblematic of what the Texas Republican Party and its leaders have become: “weak, corrupt, inept, and self-serving politicians who don’t give a damn about the people they were elected to represent.” (4) They also are driven by two deadly ideologies: Libertarianism and financialization. The main players and private stewards of Texas’s economy are preoccupied more with privatization, short-term thinking, financial scheming, corporate lobbying, and getting richer than with providing important services.

Known also as economicide, it is the destruction of an economic system by replacing it with an extreme individualistic market that not only favors the powerful and wealthy, but that results in destroying a people’s economic basis. In this view, the powerful and wealthy destroy local economies which were once based on age-old traditions of reciprocity through hyper deregulation for self-gain and financial reward. It is a conscience effort to match economic suicide and economic ruination through a suicidal policy option of imposed deregulation.

Others simply wonder why a riot and violent attack occurred against the 117th United States Congress at the US Capitol, instead of the capital at Austin, Texas. To be sure, the election protests carried out by a mob of supporters, which turned deadly after it was egged on by then President Donald Trump to overturn his defeat despite a fair and peaceful election, was clearly misguided, as compared to the violent economicide that the 87th Texas State Congress forced on the people living in Texas. Just how many people did die will not be known for weeks or months.

(1)   See here.
(2)   See here.
(3)   See here.
(4)   See here.