Scene: Continuation of conversation between Jordan and JC, a long-time friend.  Conversation started as deciding on a simple, understandable theme for government policies following Revenge Revolution.  Conversation begins Entry #131.

JC and Jordan concluded the standard measure for future government policies should be ‘treat thy neighbor as thyself.’  They also agreed to assess whether the standard is appropriate for corporate policy.

JC:  “I’m back, let’s talk water rights.  The right to water is a big issue that we’ve overlooked.”

Jordan:  “We do need to address it.  Many people are really upset about why some people get preferential rights to water.”

JC:  “Seems as if this is an ideal case for the standard, ‘treat thy neighbor as thyself.’”

Jordan:  “I agree.  Water rights might be THE perfect case to test the standard.  Water is critical for human life, animal life and plant life.”

JC:  “There’s plenty of water to go around…but the water is not necessarily clean, or in the right location, or mixed with something else…like salt.”

Jordan:  “Part of the issue is ownership.  Over the years some people and groups have gained or bought preferential rights to the water.  The policy for rights to water needs to be fair.”

JC:  “Agreed that the policy needs to be fair but so does the behavior of those who have existing rights to water.”

Jordan:  “Why should those with rights to extra water share with anyone else?  They bought the rights.  If they want to waste the water, they own it.  It’s their right.”

JC:  “You sound like some lunatic Libertarian.  I paid, therefore…”

Jordan:  “Well pardon me but you sound like some socialist.  Everyone shares.”

JC:  “Let’s just backup and remind ourselves that despite claims by Libertarians and many Republicans, property rights are not an inherent right.”

Jordan:  “Excuse me.  Say that again.”

JC:  “One more time.  Property rights are not an inherent right.   Property rights, including water rights, are granted and protected by that terrible organization called government.  Remember?”

Jordan:  “I know that but a lot of people either never learned that in school or remember it only selectively.”

JC:  “Part of what POTUS needs to discuss with the public is a reminder of the source of rights to ownership and how rights are maintained.  Rights are granted based on a signature on a piece of paper.”

Jordan:  “Think he’ll buy that argument?”

JC:  “He doesn’t have to buy the argument.  He has no choice.  Citizens of this country, whether left, right or center politically, need to understand government can giveth and government can taketh.”

Jordan:  “You talking about suspending ownership rights to water?”

JC:  “Yes. I am.  I don’t think there is a choice.  We’ve already had the Revenge Revolution.  If water rights aren’t resolved fairly, we’ll have another revolution…and it will likely be worse.”

Jordan:  “You’re probably right.  But how do we get started?”

JC:  “Thanks for the compliment about being right.  How do we get started?  Let’s look at some history.  In times of war, certain rights in this country have been suspended.”

Jordan:  “True, but this is not war, at least not yet.”

JC:  “Then look at government actions in non-war crises.”

Jordan:  “You mean like the Great Depression?”

JC:  “Yes.  Also, look at the environmental crises in the 1970’s…you know with widespread air and water pollution.”

Jordan:  “I guess it’s almost shocking by today’s politics, but we had a Republican president driving the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency.”

JC:  “Hard to believe — a Republican president creating EPA.  Then the EPA set lots of standards that some industries and some of the public thought were too restrictive and invasive.”

Jordan:  “The auto industry being one.  The companies screamed and said the standards could not be met.”

JC:  “But guess what.  The companies put on their big-boy pants and met the standards.”

Jordan:  “And the auto industry continues to reduce emissions.  The result?  Air quality… and water quality…are much better today than when the standards were announced.  So now we need to frame the water distribution issue in a similar way.”

JC:  “We agreed a few minutes ago that deciding on water rights might be the perfect case for implementing the standard ‘treat thy neighbor as thyself’?”

Jordan:  “How do we really make that standard work?”

JC:  “I think there are two issues.  #1, distribution of water.  #2 using existing water more efficiently.”

Jordan:  “Which one should we tackle first?”

JC:  “Flip a coin.  Heads for distribution; tails for efficiency.”

Jordan:  (flips coin)

(To be continued)

More about the origination of the blog and the author, Entry #1.

Ebook format of recent series of entries on Federal Budget.  15 05 23 Do They Really Understand Entries #121-#130