It Ain't a '70s Revival Without Gas Lines!

Matt Welch | August 30, 2005

Hawaii, that intriguing laboratory for democracy (it was the first and perhaps only state to enact a law giving the finger to the PATRIOT Act, for example), has exhumed one of the hoariest ideas from the bad-government (and by that I mean "Richard Nixon") playbook: price controls on gasoline. Worse, this is encouraging California's idiot Democrats to follow suit:

This week, state Sen. Joe Dunn (D-Santa Ana) will reintroduce legislation that would give the California Public Utilities Commission the power to regulate gasoline prices.

"Hawaii is taking the absolutely correct approach to the gasoline industry," said Dunn, a strident critic of energy companies. "The more states that follow Hawaii's lead, the sooner we'll be able to force this industry to get back to normal market behavior that benefits the consumer but also allows them a reasonable profit."

The sooner we'll be able to force this industry to get back to normal market behavior. That's probably my favorite line.