"Governments are responsible for services individuals cannot effectively provide for themselves:  military defense, fire/police, roads, education, social services, environmental protection..."

This is the mission of American government. But it all takes money, the investment each of us must shoulder.  We are the "envy of the world" because of our "quality of life".

As a military dependent I lived abroad in the 1960s.  My father made the most of us being apart from family and all that was familiar.  He wanted to make the most of it, so we traveled Europe.  As a young teen I visited war ravaged Berlin and saw "the wall", followed by visits to other parts of the continent struggling to recover from the effects of WWII.

Maybe it was that experience, "the exposure" that made me a passionate American and setting the trajectory for my decades of government support, work and passion for public policy.

So, what's driving my thoughts this early morning?  TEXAS, a U.S. state like the other 49 states.  I and seven other nuclear family members were born in the "the Independent Republic of Texas", short-lived, (1836-1846), but still embraced as such by 'some'.

The current winter event that morphed into a natural disaster in a populous state with three cities in the top 10 Largest American cities, should not suffer from the companion man-made disaster of unregulated electricity in the Only state instituting its own electrical grid to avoid federal regulation.  Result:  .12₡/kwh escalated to $9/kwh.  One family reported, "…1300 sq ft. Heat set at 60, no laundry, running dishwasher, stove/oven cooking, only used air fryer, lights off during the day, candles at night … , Tv on some. Somehow, they say I used 1772 khw. $5,000".

BIG Takeaway:  Regulation = Protection.