Courser Pushes "Energy Freedom" While Blasting Corporate Control Of Lansing

State Rep. Todd Courser (Photo by DarKen Photography)

 By Brandon Hall
(Email him at WestMiPolitics@Gmail.com)

State Rep. Todd Courser pushed "energy freedom" for Michiganders while blasting State Rep. Aric Nesbitt's bill to eliminate consumer choice and fully regulate electricity in Michigan.

Courser says many legislators are bought off by special interests in the energy field and as a result will vote against a free market energy policy.

Courser wrote in an email last week:

"Legislators who have been paid high sums from power companies or other political elements have an amazing political advantage over those who advance free market policies.  Those who are activists in crony capitalistic legislation get protection in campaigns and are lauded with inside and outside money... We need to give our citizens the power to choose DTE/Consumers or other power company options. These two companies pay huge sums to legislators who will protect their monopoly and they buy the representation they need.

Unfortunately in this case, it is all of us that pay more for their protection from competitors.  We pay it every time we are forced by the hand of government to do business with these companies. These two companies and their handpicked legislative advocates will claim they need a monopoly to offer power; it is simply not true.  We have 10 percent of our energy market freed from the handcuffs of government and we need to free the rest of our citizens to make the right choices for themselves, their families and their businesses. We are a heavy industrial state and one of the main components of keeping industry in our state is whether or not we have affordable energy.  Right now the prices on our energy are high which creates an impediment to industry and makes our state a less competitive option."

Here is the full email:

"Today I took the steps of drafting and entering a bill that would change our approach to energy policy in our state.

Unbelievably, the Republican leadership in the legislature has been moving a package of bills that will eliminate what little competition we have in our state's energy market and will raise energy prices again on our citizens. We have two companies (DTE and Consumers) who have a 90 plus percent control of the energy market. To achieve the best prices and options for consumers, the marketplace should not be distorted by government interference, which protects certain preferred sellers and guarantees them profits while taxpayers and citizens subsidize any risks they may take. Government should never distort any market in favor of politically connected companies; government should never pick winners and losers in the marketplace.

Do we want only a few protected players to be allowed to buy and sell in any given market? Do we allow some to have protected class status and protection from competition at the hand of government? Do we allow some companies to have a guarantee on market share and profits?

In each policy area, including energy, healthcare, insurance, finance, agriculture, and every other, we as a state have to decide if we are going to have a top down state run monopoly and smother out any competitive forces that keep the players in check on pricing and service or will we be a state that allows the free markets to flourish unhindered or nearly so. It is a choice we make as a state through our elected representatives. Government should not be used as a hammer to drive out less well connected companies.

In energy that is exactly what DTE/Consumers have done. We as legislators need to understand what the proper role of government and free markets is in our society. We don't need a state protected monopoly. If DTE and Consumers are protected from competition then they have no incentive to reduce costs and increase options for the consumers who are forced to purchase their services.

Today Michigan has some of the highest energy prices in the country and is now taking steps to refuse to allow any other competitors to enter the market. Unfortunately we have so few in Lansing who either understand the proper role of government or the proper role of the free markets. Most in Lansing understand political power really well and place the interests of politically powerful above the adherence to the Constitutional restrictions on the proper role of government and protection of the free markets. In Lansing it is tough to see it differently; really solid sounding Conservatives cave on more spending, more regulations and more governmental control on so many things; energy is just one of many.  Good solid Conservative sounding isn't good solid Conservative voting or advocating. Many will say they stand against governmental overreach, and some will even vote the correct way, if they are released to do so by leadership, but what so few will do is offer other bill options to showcase what a free market bill looks like or simply advocate against the powerful interests that run Lansing. They don't because if they do then they are cut off from funding for their next election.  It is unfortunate but much is done and not done with the sole eye on how that will cause certain groups to line up in support or opposition in the next election.

Governmental power should not be used to pick winners and losers. Legislators are there to protect the interests of the citizens but most seem oblivious to even the most basic understandings of capitalism and how important it is to defend the free markets from governmental power. Legislators who have been paid high sums from power companies or other political elements have an amazing political advantage over those who advance free market policies.  Those who are activists in crony capitalistic legislation get protection in campaigns and are lauded with inside and outside money. Unfortunately we have very, very few at any level who will stand against the overreach and abuse of government. I bring this bill to showcase that we as legislators need to do right by our citizens and understand it is not the proper role of legislators to distort the energy market, or any other market, in favor of some competitors over others. We need to give our citizens the power to choose DTE/Consumers or other power company options. These two companies pay huge sums to legislators who will protect their monopoly and they buy the representation they need. Unfortunately in this case, it is all of us that pay more for their protection from competitors.  We pay it every time we are forced by the hand of government to do business with these companies.

These two companies and their handpicked legislative advocates will claim they need a monopoly to offer power; it is simply not true.  We have 10 percent of our energy market freed from the handcuffs of government and we need to free the rest of our citizens to make the right choices for themselves, their families and their businesses. We are a heavy industrial state and one of the main components of keeping industry in our state is whether or not we have affordable energy.  Right now the prices on our energy are high which creates an impediment to industry and makes our state a less competitive option.

A few citizens have been allowed to have the freedom to purchase energy.  That freedom needs to be expanded to the rest of our citizens. It is with all of this in mind that I enter my bill to bring Energy Freedom to Michigan."

_______________________________________________________________________

Brandon Hall is a lifelong political nerd from Grand Haven, and is the Managing Editor of West Michigan Politics.
>>>Email him at WestMiPolitics@Gmail.com 

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Photo By Darlene Dowling Thompson