September 14
GUEST: Sarahana Shrestha, climate organizer, DSA candidate, and now member of the NY State Assembly as well as the Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic, and Asian Legislative Caucus, talks about public utilities and why they should be owned by the people.
Rep. Shrestha to hold town hall sessions
Rep. Shrestha makes me wonder what our democracy would be like if we had politicians who put public service ahead of their private interests. Rep. Shrestha wants affordable energy that doesn't destroy our environment, and she is willing to go into county legislatures and explain how it is done. Privatizing our electrical system obviously hasn't worked. Central Hudson was sold to some huge conglomerate in Canada, and has been caught sending out inflated bills for the last several years.
Now I get letters every day for the last two weeks, giving me credit for my over-payments. Each credit letter has a different amount, sometimes only off by less then a dollar. Why do I get an avalanche of letters signifying nothing? Because my service provider, Central Hudson, was sold to an investment firm that cares so very little about the individuals being provided electricity. Profit is the only goal when public utilities are sold off by county legislators.
So Rep. Shrestha has made me rethink our system of government. Could we ever get enough people like her to be in Congress? Could they take over the bloated and corporatized Democratic Party? I know its not likely, but it's something. Maybe when we finally come out of the fascist Trump era, we will be looking for new people. People like Sarahana Shrestha.
