The crisis of confidence in today's power industry is, at its heart, a crisis of ideas.
John B. Howe, a vice president with American Superconductor, was chairman of the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities from 1995 to 1997.
Conflicting regulations and government mandates become increasingly burdensome and, eventually, violate the law of the possible. Politically favored actors — an "aristocracy of pull"—wield influence in opaque backroom meetings, which result in mysterious market interventions. As brute power overshadows reasoned principle in determining the rules of the marketplace, private initiative and risk-taking begin to wither. In time, capital flight leads to a loss of productive capacity and the destruction of large swaths of the economy. Finally, the inviolable laws of physics trump the irrational laws of men; the electric power system fails, and a major American metropolis is plunged into darkness.
Is this a post mortem of the power crisis in Gov. Gray Davis’ California? No, these are plot elements from Ayn Rand’s epic 1950s novel, Atlas Shrugged. Upon publication, Rand’s novel was derided as implausible, jeered for glorifying capitalism, or simply ignored by the mainstream literary establishment. Nevertheless, it built an enduring following among millions of readers. It persists as one of the most widely read and provocative works of fiction of the last century — and, for our new century, has won regard as a work of prophecy. Readers, though, know it chiefly as a work of philosophy. Atlas Shrugged vigorously defends the free enterprise system for its ability to tap the energy of human creativity, but it notes that initiative withers without the right conditions, thereby spreading material and spiritual impoverishment.