I’m Freezing Cold and Burning Mad in Texas
The state’s power outages have revealed the difference between performative governance and actually governing.
By Andrew Exum
The great winter storm of 2021 has terrorized Texans, overwhelmed our energy grid, and made a mockery of our politicians and our much-vaunted independence.
Here in Dallas, my family and I have intermittently been without power for three days. On Monday night, the coldest night on record in three decades, we were without power for 12 long hours. I pitched a tent in my children’s bedroom, and all of us — Mom, Dad, three kids, Scout the dog — huddled together for warmth under sleeping bags and heavy blankets.
Most houses in Texas are poorly insulated, to put it mildly. Poor Scout’s water bowl in the kitchen froze solid overnight. Indeed, when power was restored for a few hours on Tuesday morning, my wife and I scrambled to unfreeze any pipes that had seized up in spite of the fact that we had left the faucets dripping. At one point, my wife — a tough woman, and a water and sanitation engineer by training — climbed under the house and thawed out a pipe with a blow-dryer.
We have been, we must admit, very lucky. Each night, as we have said our prayers, we have thanked God for the…
