Paul Waldman praises Berkeley's innovative new plan for putting solar power in all of the city's homes and businesses as a vivid illustration of progressive government in action.
It's a terrific deal all around. Homeowners benefit with increased property values, the solar manufacturing and installation industries benefit with new customers, and the environment benefits with less burning of fossil fuel.Places with no meaningful inter-party political competition can find themselves awfully dysfunctional (see, for instance, the parade of losers the New York City Democratic party has nominated for mayor in recent years). But in this case, not having Republicans around to stand in the way allowed Berkeley to do something truly innovative. If there were any Republicans in Berkeley, they'd surely find reasons to oppose the plan, most importantly the fact that it'll probably work.
Read the rest (and comment) here. --The Editors
