First laugh, then demand action

An old movie and an older TV show come to mind as I consider the SCANA/Santee Cooper nuclear fiasco.

In the 1970 film “Network,” the news anchor of a failing television station urges viewers to open their windows and scream, “I’m mad as h--- and I’m not going to take this anymore!”

“Laugh-In” (which aired before the U.S. government broke up AT&T’s monopoly on phone service) had a character named Ernestine, who was a phone operator. Her famous pronouncement was: “We’re the phone company! We don’t care. We don’t have to.”

Substitute “electric company,” and you’ve succinctly summed up the attitude of SCANA/SCE&G toward its “customers.”

I suggest that we who have been treated so badly by our electric company demand that our legislators end SCE&G’s monopoly. It’s time for some competition.

This story was originally published August 21, 2017 at 3:56 PM with the headline "First laugh, then demand action."