Washington, D.C. has a funny, if not sad, way of changing the way folks think and act. Many officials ride into town with clear eyes and deeply rooted market-based principles only to have their outlooks fundamentally – and often rapidly – changed.

Case in point: Rick Perry, the outspoken energy secretary who served as the governor of Texas for 14 years, has stated firmly that his agency and the Trump administration “are not here to pick winners and losers,” adding that “the market can pick winners and losers.”

Late last month, Perry issued a proposal to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that would make energy department bureaucrats and the Obama administration officials who cooked up the famously botched bailout of defunct solar-panel manufacturer Solyndra blush.

Yes, there is an opportunity to further strengthen the grid – which innovators in the marketplace are working hard, and effectively, to do.

Read the full article by Mark J. Perry about the American energy industry from American Enterprise Insitute