OK, I don’t know if that’s true, but he’s got to be impressed seeing his policies implemented right here in North Carolina.
North Carolina legislators (from both parties) and led by Republican Senator Fletcher Hartsell are taking unprecedented steps to undermine property rights.
The push to seize the Alcoa dam isn’t just any ordinary eminent domain issue. In fact, it is a mistake to think of it as simply an eminent domain issue.
Hartsell and other legislators want to seize the dam so that the state can run the dam for itself. This is called nationalization of industry, something Chavez have recently done (as I discussed here). NC would be using the same tactics as the socialist Hugo Chavez.
From the Venezuala Information Office regarding Chavez’s nationalization plan:
Though often mischaracterized as a government expropriation campaign, Venezuela?s nationalization plan involves due respect for property and investor rights. According to a Houston Chronicle article, “Chavez? is not nationalizing the entire economy without compensation to companies? but rather is buying back a few key strategic utilities such as the CANTV telecommunications company or taking a majority government share in four heavy oil projects in the eastern Orinoco River basin?[Chavez] insisted Venezuela does not plan to copy the Soviet or Cuban model of complete state dominance of the economy. “
It therefore is important to clarify that this Alcoa takeover is not like Cuba or the Soviet model of complete state domination–nor is it expropriation. There’s a real respect for property rights! BTW: I wonder if we can call Chavez a socialist since he isn’t fully in favor of state control of every industry.
Here’s what Hartsell said regarding the need to seize control of the dam for the state:
“I think it’s important for us as North Carolinians to be able to
control our water, clean up our environment and encourage appropriate
economic development in the area,” said Sen. Fletcher Hartsell,
R-Cabarrus. “The dams are going to be run, but the first thing they’re
going to be run for is for the people of this state.”
I don’t want to give all the credit to Chavez for showing that government should takeover utilities–there are others besides Chavez and many in the NC legislature that believe in nationalization. There also is Socialist Bolivia that was nationalizing its hydroelectric dams.
There certainly is recent precedent for nationalization of industries, and specifically utilities. From Caracas to La Paz to Raleigh, nationalization of industries is on the march.
