Texas winter storm showed that when government does less, it can have more impact

My father was a mechanic, and I learned early that when an engine is running well, it runs smoothly. “Listen to that purr! Runs smooth as silk,” he would say.

The same is true for sailing, flying, swimming, running — when done well, the action appears effortless, smooth, purring. And it’s true for government. When focused on its core functions, our government is in the background, running smoothly, all energy focused on those core functions performed exactly, on time, every time.

When emergencies strike, government steps to the forefront, retreating once the threat is passed.

This month’s winter storm brought inevitable comparisons to the massive freeze we experienced last year. By the grace of God, this storm was much less – less severe, less time below freezing, less precipitation, less human suffering. But it also was much more – more communication, more pre-planning, more pre-staging of repair and rescue assets, more winterization of power generators, more readiness to meet the inevitable high demand for power and support resources.

As always, Texans rose to the occasion.

The public service arena (government, agencies, institutions, service providers) is complicated, and there are never any easy answers or solutions. Every fix has a fault — thus the constant push-pull of the public arena. Last years’ storm certainly exposed numerous faults in a number of areas, laid bare for all to see and suffer.

Much has been written about those faults, but this storm highlighted the fixes.

Communication was full-throated and widespread. From top to bottom, government and organizations worked together with emergency service agencies, power providers, transportation authorities and local human service organizations to not only prepare for a winter storm, but to fix what we didn’t have in place or what didn’t work last year.

Briefings were pro-active and informative. Clearly, this time, all the parties established lines of communication at first forecast, did pre-checks for readiness and made any adjustments necessary to optimize response.

Electric service repair trucks and crews were pre-positioned throughout the region to readily address service outages. There were power outages due to downed lines, of course, but in most cases, they were fairly short, lasting a few hours rather than a few days.

The Texas Department of Transportation and county/city road crews made early preparations and, where possible, pre-treated roads and bridges to minimize the impact of the freezing precipitation.

Many schools and businesses planned to close or allow virtual work. This certainly helped minimize the number of vehicles on the road, along with decreasing demand on the power infrastructure.

Emergency shelters were available for anyone without power or heat, including provisions for people to shelter with their pets. That’s another lesson learned from past disasters, when people refused to go to shelters because they had no option to take their pets.

Conservative in public discourse is many things, but generally smaller or less government is a high priority of a conservative: less in terms of scope (not a nanny state with cradle to grave control) and more in terms of effective, efficient delivery of core services.

Government should provide public service, safety and security, never more so than during emergencies. Last week North Texas pulled together and focused on the support/service/response role of government.

When government focuses on basic services, pressing all resources to the things that only government can do well — safety and security, utilities, streets and highways, and emergency services — individuals are free to focus on their own preparations for emergencies.

Less government overall can yield more robust delivery of core services, leaving Texans free to boldly chase their dreams.