an open letter to Sen. Bill Nelson (D), FL

After getting a letter from Bill about his efforts in Florida concerning the disaster of Hurricane Wilma I decided to write him a letter. Below is the main body of his email, and it was follwed by other blurbs of information about how to get help, phone numbers, etc.:

"I have been traveling in Florida over the last several days, first in anticipation of Hurricane Wilma and, now to assess the damage and the response. I’m being told by local officials that the Federal government failed to preposition enough water, food, ice, and generators in the affected areas, and that the lack of power in vast areas is drastically exacerbating supply shortages, and hindering efforts to deliver assistance to storm victims. I’m urging FEMA to quickly provide more generators to areas hardest hit and encouraging Florida utilities to exceed their current estimates for restoring power to 75% of affected areas by November 8."
Sincerely,

Bill Nelson
U.S. Senator

Well, I had to write him back, I do appreciate any effort he makes to improve the lives of others, though I believe such efforts should be from him personally, and not as a member of government. My letter:

Dear Senator Nelson,

Monday was my first day of classes after the hurricane hit my county and the county my school is in. I am sure that you have put a great deal of effort into making personal contact with the effects of this disaster, however I am surely able to say that my experience is much more personal, having ridden out the storm in my home and then helped my neighbors and church members clear debris and repair their homes.

As a political science major at [university] I am always keenly interested and critical of the way human beings perceive the role of government. In my political theory class on Monday we were right in the middle of discussions about the state of nature, the base nature of man, and the role of government. Our discussions revolved around the writings of John Locke, and a little of Thomas Hobbes.

Specifically when we considered the effects of price caps on gasoline and generators, I was certain that such actions by government, though possibly well-intended, actually have the opposite effect of helping people. I would challenge you to consider a bipartisan position with Mel Martinez, as the sensible Senators from Florida, who want to do a better job for all Americans when it comes to disaster relief. If Floridians can’t come up with a solution, from our vast experience with disaster, no one else can.

What I propose is a lifting of price caps on essential items, simply allow businesses to charge whatever prices they wish on water, gas, generators, etc. The incentive for companies, even private individuals to make money off selling their goods will encourage them to come to Florida, or any area directly in the path of a hurricane, and sell to whoever is willing to pay. No one from Florida (North), or Georgia, or the Carolinas who owns a personal generator would dare think of driving down here to sell a generator at regular price... it simply isn’t worth the effort. Yet if they were allowed to sell their product for any price they wished, in a free market place, the simple laws of supply and demand would determine the real market price and thus open the affected area up for greater stockpiles. 7 days before a storm, prices might be 200% what they should be, but as days move along, and the wealthy who can afford such prices have made their purchases, demand will go down, and prices will go down, 5 days before a storm prices may very well be at 150%, and so on and so forth, as the storm gets closer and we are at the day before the storm the seller of the generator my only make a 20% profit but its enough to break even once the cost of transportation is factored in. This pre-storm effect will be beneficial, and possibly the post-storm situations will not be so bad, everyone looking for the supplies. The very good part of all this will be that gasoline producers and oil refiners, an industry very much in trouble and need of growth if we are to lower gas prices, would see the opportunity to make extra money if they knew they could before and after a storm. By keeping prices low, they have no incentive to produce more -- this causes the shortage -- aren’t price caps designed to do that? Yet they do exactly the opposite.

Mr. Nelson, I read the Op-Ed pages and letters to the editor of the Sun-Sentinel just days after the hurricane, I encourage you to do the same, I think you will see many ideas which have their root in Locke, Hobbes, Mill, Rousseau, and other political theorists of the 17-19th centuries, and I hope that you being an American understand that the foundations of our wealthy nation were, and very much still are (in the hearts and minds of the people) a Lockian philosophy of the role of government.
Sincerely,

Jason Weakley