The Hurricane and Civilization
O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath--
America will be!
-Langston Hughes
Americans got a glimpse of their country this past week and did not like what they saw. A devastating storm blasted the Gulf Coast. In advance the authorities instructed people to evacuate, and those with means did so. Some rented houses in other cities safely removed from the coast. Some flew to stay with relatives in other states. Many crowded the highways and drove out of the storm's path.
Those without cars, those without gas money and waiting for the first-of-the-month paychecks, those without vacation homes, did not go and were eventually herded into the Superdome. The Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies, reputed to have spent four years hammering out a response team of ruthless efficiency, turned out to be at first distant spectators and then a bunch of bumblers. The ever-busy Army Corps of Engineers seemed to be saying, "We told you so," but had not actually insisted on the necessary fortifications of the levees and seemed clueless watching the gushing water. The National Guard, spread thin and physically exhausted from carrying much of the war in Iraq, was nowhere to be seen.
American civilization seemed to be a thin veneer, with our vaunted civil engineering know-how called into question, with looting beginning even before the local police scattered without leadership, with the distribution of food and water so inequitable that people in New Orleans who survived a category-four storm then feared for their lives because of robbers.
Our poor national response shows the importance of leadership. Americans were looking for someone who would bring some order to the search and rescue and tell volunteers where they could direct their well-meaning efforts, someone who could set a moral tone of dignity and who with a show of compassion and support for the victims could tell them that they will have the help they need to rebuild, someone who could hold out a vision of recovery. Instead, Americans got a Director of FEMA who put nothing in place before the storm, officials who seemed surprised that those left in need were the poor and weak, cabinet secretaries who seemed at a loss for how to respond graciously to other countries that offered to help, a Speaker of the House who suggested that maybe rebuilding New Orleans was either too big a job or not a worthy undertaking, prominent people making unconsciously racist statements about the victims gladly replacing their dreary former existence with the newfound hospitality of the shelters, and an Energy Secretary who allowed gas price gouging to take place under his nose.
We Americans should expect better of ourselves. We found ourselves in a country not as efficient or as compassionate as we thought we were or as we want to be. We can do something about it. As the old saying goes, every challenge is an opportunity. Some have suggested that what is missing from our recent response that was present in our response to the attacks of September 11, 2001 are the prayer vigils. That may be. Ceremonies that celebrate our dependence on each other and reinforce our common humility in the face of powers greater than ourselves are generally good. What we really need, though, I think, are individuals who hold up the standards we want to meet--standards of care for the weakest in our society, standards of organization for disaster preparedness, standards of social behavior in times of stress.
This failure of government over the past week should not be taken as a repudiation of government, but rather as a reminder of our great dependence on government. After all, government is just another word for doing together those things that we can do better collectively than separately. A hurricane is a dramatic reminder of the danger of the philosophy that has been gaining such currency in recent years--that you are on your own and better off on your own--with your own retirement savings account, your own medical savings account, your own approach to workplace safety and protection, your own school vouchers, your own environmental clean-up, and your own disaster escape plan-- without any need for the government. The American dream is built much more on community that on individualism, much more on helping each other get ahead than on leaving each other behind. Yes, if we never forget that we are in this together, America will be.
Republicans not only want to drown small government in the bathtub, but they drowned over 25,000 people in the New Orleans bathtub.
We have a mad Radical Republican party that wants to drown government in a bathtub in the name of smaller government often stated by that Swedish terrorist Grover Norquist but also the Republican party drowned 25,000 people in the New Orleans bathtub through their neglicence before the hurricane and after the hurricane with a week late effort.
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September 9, 2005 11:09 AM | Reply | Permalink
A new agenda for America.
If you don't like a television program you boycott and make demands of a program sponsor to get the program off the air.
If you don't like the program of the Republican Party you boycott and make demands of their sponsors to get your program enacted in congress because Democrats do not have the votes at present.
If you agree to make these demands of the following companies and will boycott them until the following conditions get met then place your name on the list after the last demand at the bottom of this email. Please also forward this email to as many people as you can so they can also sign the list of demands and then forward this email to webmaster@boycott-republicans.com with the subject name: AGENDA after you get the 50th signature on this email and I will forward this mail to the companies I have named below that we will boycott.
Walmart, Wendy’s, Outback Steakhouse, Olive Garden, Red Lobster Restaurants, Curves for Women health clubs, Dominos Pizza, CVS Pharmacies, Eckerd Pharmacies , Walgreens Pharmacies.
We demand that your company executives get the Republican Party to hold a press conference and accede to these demands. Until such a press conference happens and the legislation gets passed and signed into law, we will boycott your products.
We demand that the Republican party end their aggressive and hateful action to end a woman’s right to choose abortion or not.
We Demand that George W Bush WITHDRAW the nomination of John Roberts to the Supreme court and nominate a moderate judge to the Supreme Court.
We demand that the Congress of the United states and the president of the United States enact a law to increase the minimum wage to TEN dollars an hour and also to extend unemployment benefits for all people whose unemployment benefits expired after 6 months even though they still seek work.
We demand that the Congress of the United States to not privatize social security benefits in any form including taking a percentage of the social security tax and placing it in private accounts. People can already create their own pensions with money after taxes in the private sector.
We demand that the congress make all of a person’s earned income taxable for social security FICA tax purposes and remove the 88,000 dollar salary cap. This will make social security solvent for many years to come.
We demand the congress increase the payroll tax in order to make social security solvent as well.
We demand congress and the president enact a prescription drug benefit under Medicare Part B which covers 80 percent of medication cost, with no extra premium, no extra deductibles, no means test and no coverage gaps, and no penalties for signing up in a succeeding year.
We call for the complete repeal of the faulty Medicare law HR 1 / S 1 passed by congress in Nov 2003.
We demand vote by mail with paper ballots throughout the United States of America. This will prevent Republicans from suppressing voting by skin color which happened electronically and in person in the 2000 and 2004 elections.
We demand Civil servants on every state payroll should keep track of voter registrations and vote counting of mail in votes in each precinct and not companies such as Choicepoint. We need to take the Republican Party out of the business of keeping track of voter registration and counting votes.
We demand States ban the secretary of state from engaging in politics especially acting as a campaign official for a presidential campaign.
We do this in the spirit of peaceful resistance to a congress that refuses to enact this legislation.
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We the undersigned pledge to not get our cars repaired at Exxon/Mobil stations and not to buy any gasoline at Exxon/Mobil stations until Exxon/Mobil prices their gasoline so their stations can sell their gasoline at $1.50 per gallon and the other oil companies follow with pricing their gasoline for sale at $1.50 a gallon at their gasoline stations.
( This allows people to buy gasoline and get their cars repaired at other gasoline stations. )
Forward this with your name to as many people as you can. When this form reaches 50 signatures email it to
webmaster@boycott-republicans.com
with the subject GASOLINE
I will email it to Exxon/Mobil Corporation and the various gasoline retailer organizations around the country.
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September 9, 2005 11:19 AM | Reply | Permalink
Americans have donated time and money to help the victims of this disaster. They have opened their homes and hearts to fellow Americans in need. Americans did not get an ugly glimpse of their country this past week but an ugly glimpse of their government.
September 9, 2005 11:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
This is exactly right. Americans, as individuals, perform very well during a crisis. But our government has failed us, Our government is currently run by people who believe that government always fails, and I'm sure there's a connection there. I really think it's time for people to go ahead and ask what they should reasonably be able to expect from their government. I'm afraid that the New Orleans fiasco will make people hate the idea of government, when they should focus their ire on the way this government has been run.
September 9, 2005 11:34 AM | Reply | Permalink
"This is exactly right. Americans, as individuals, perform very well during a crisis. But our government has failed us"
This seems to run counter to the central progressive philosophy that individuals should be subverted to the state. Progressives must realize that the powerful central government they wish to establish may not always be controlled by people with whom they agree.
September 9, 2005 12:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Progressives don't necessarily believe that individuals should be controlled by a powerful central state. Some of us are very libertarian on social issues. I think it's more the belief that government is a tool and that it can be an effective tool, if it's run properly.
September 9, 2005 1:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Some of us are very libertarian on social issues. I think it's more the belief that government is a tool and that it can be an effective tool, if it's run properly"
Setting aside central control of personal behavior, I think the core progressive philosophy is that individuals should contribute their economic resources to a central authority which will distribute those resources democratically, rather than rely on the judgments of individuals. The risk of this is that that central authority may not always be run "properly" in the judgment of progressives.
September 9, 2005 1:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Robert I will point out that corporations often the Republicans answer to most problems are also just bureaucracies. Anyone dealing with an HMO or other large private entity knows they are no better than government.
Government cannot do everything for us. To expect it to is both naive and dangerous. That is different than saying we can expect nothing from our government and we all on our own.
September 9, 2005 2:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Government cannot do everything for us."
I don't think that any but the most progressive progressives (socialists) believe that, but do not most progressives put much more confidence in a large central government than individuals, however organised?
September 9, 2005 2:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree with you that Progressives, in general, are too quick to want a governmental solution to problems. However, Conservatives, in general, are too quick to expect individuals to deal with problems are not of their making and are beyond their ability to deal.
Good government and policy, and one reason why I think the Right hated Bill Clinton so much, is to recognize the need for a partnership between a competent government and empowered individuals.
September 9, 2005 3:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Clinton was hated by the left as well because he wasn't ideological enough. I never understood why the right hated him so much.
September 9, 2005 6:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Robert, you are so correct about Clinton and the Left. I knew many a New York Leftie, it is wrong to call them liberals, bailed on Clinton on gays in the military.
As for the Right to speculate I think it was both his success at making government work something at least since Reagan and perhaps Goldwater they have been assuring us was not possible. Also I think Clinton represented everything about the 1960s they hate.
In many respects our current politics are about Baby Boomers fighting out the 60s sub silentio.
September 9, 2005 7:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Americans simply expect, and deserve, a government by, for, and of the People to come to the assistance of their fellow Americans in time of crisis. It really has nothing to do with liberal or conservative loyalties. An American in need is one all of America should seek to embrace, help. I am a Vietnam vet who spent many years in the Philippines and I have been through Category 5 typhoons (hurricanes) and I am well aware of the monstrously powerful impact of such a storm. NO ONE in government today can figure out that a storm of that magnitude IS going to bring flood, famine, devastation, and disease. I have also personally witnessed the awe-inspiring ability of the U.S. military to get emergency, air-dropped supplies to the farthest, worst areas of a disaster WITHIN HOURS.
It is simply unacceptable to expect, or demand, less right here on our own shores.
September 9, 2005 3:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
That response sort of blows my mind. The government IS the American people. At least that's what the Constitution says. The very fact that we are viewing "the government" as separate from ourselves is a direct effect of the past five years of subterfuge, incompetence, corruption and illegitimacy. Do we even have any more a government that could be called of the people, by the people and for the people?
I never put any stock in the "ownership society," and now I find it to be an obscene phrase.
September 9, 2005 12:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
"The government IS the American people."
Non-sense.
The government at any one time represents perhaps twenty five percent of the people since half the people don't vote and those who do are evenly split. And it's worst since various interest groups have disproportionate influence on policy. Many people who live in single party dominated districts have little representation in government and little hope of getting any.
To suggest that government can be expected to be benign because "they is us" is naïve and dangerous.
"never put any stock in the "ownership society," and now I find it to be an obscene phrase. "
So, do you consider yourself a socialist then?
September 10, 2005 8:35 AM | Reply | Permalink
Robert you point out quite accurately the problems in representation in this country -- but they are problems, not unchangeable facts. Bush and Co. have done eveything they can to further these problems -- Clinton, for example, passed the motor-voter law to allow more people to register, and many have called for voting day to be a national holiday so more people can vote. I agree that as of now not enough people vote, but with good leadership, I do not think that problem is unsolveable. Difficult, yes, but not impossible. But we have a representational form of government, we elect our officials, and in that sense the government is of the people. How we perform that right is, of course, another story.
As far as my comment about "ownership society," I was referring to Bush's use of that term to promote tearing down social programs. I do not believe in his plan for Social Security, or his overriding philosophy that American citizens are on our own when it comes to the big social needs of health care, education and old age. I am not a socialist -- I do not label myself as anything but an American. But socialist concepts are hardly new in America. We do not each build our own hospitals, schools, or municipal facilities, it would be foolish -- so we raise taxes and pay for those things. We saw in this country what happened when there were no unions or social programs -- great human suffering. Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson, to name two, addressed those problems, and Clinton updated those solutions to fit modern times.
So yes, I believe the Government IS us, and I believe that Bush's concept of the "ownership society" is an obscenity.
September 10, 2005 11:19 AM | Reply | Permalink
"Clinton, for example, passed the motor-voter law to allow more people to register, and many have called for voting day to be a national holiday so more people can vote."
Of course Clinton and most Democrats try to cajole those who have little interest in voting into doing so assuming that most of those uninformed votes will go for Ds. I am not sure that this results in better government, but it certainly makes it easier to argue that "the government is us".
"But socialist concepts are hardly new in America. We do not each build our own hospitals, schools, or municipal facilities, it would be foolish"
One does not need to be a socialist to accept that some services are best delivered by force via a government monopoly. I do not think that true socialist concepts were really seriously considered in this country even by FDR.
I think it is better that as many people as possible own the companies they work for and that it is dangerous to be uncritical of government because "they are us", but we disagree.
September 10, 2005 12:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
You assume "uninformed" voters without having any evidence to back that up. Many people have a very hard time getting off work to register to vote or even to vote at all. To say that those people are necessarily uninformed is just an opinion - you, of course, are entitled to your opinion.
As I said before, the problem of undervoting is difficult but not impossible. When I was a kid we had civics classes. Educating people in why it is important to vote, and how to know the issues to vote intelligently, is also not an impossible task. It just requires the will to do so.
As far as your comment about socialism -- I said before that I am not a socialist. Nor did I say Roosevelt, et al. were socialists. But some of the social programs such as Social Security, and on the labor side, unions, are certainly not capitalist in any sense of the word. We have seen what happens when we do not have some sort of governmental control over these kinds of things -- before unions there were sweatshops where people could not get ahead no matter how hard they tried, awful working conditions, horrible exploitation. No company was going to be more fair to their employees than the company across the street if they wanted to stay in business. Unions were a response to that injustice.
I also agree that companies should be privately owned, I have no quarrel with you there, and I think capitalism has worked out best in the U.S., tempered, of course, with national social programs that help people who fall between the cracks. As far as trusting government, I never said one should blindly trust the government. I simply said that we ARE the government and that should not be forgotten. Criticism of how WE are doing and watchfulness of the same is a very healthy thing in a democracy. My opinions of the present administration, I believe, show that I do not blindly trust government, so I don't quite understand your criticism there.
September 10, 2005 3:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Mr. Holt is my Congressman and I am even more impressed with him after reading his posts this week.
I live in the eastern part of the 12th district very near the coast and every year we hear about how we are due for a major hurricane. After seeing what happened after Katrina I am now acutely worried about how our government would respond. Our government failed these people, miserably. I don't think it was an indictment of government as a concept but of the leaders of this particular government. For all of the Republicans talk about personal responsibility it would be nice for them to step up and take some now.
I hope that Mr. Holt and the rest of the Democrats in Congress will not allow the Republicans to whitewash this tragedy. Their feet need to be held to the fire, it's the only way anything will get done.
September 9, 2005 11:42 AM | Reply | Permalink
Congressman Holt,
I must disagree. The failure of government over the past week should be taken as a repudiation of government precisely because it stemmed directly from the failure to understand that the government depends on the people not that we depend on the government.
If nothing else, this disaster may have finally put on full display the hubris of an administration that feels it owes NOTHING (including their livlihoods, apparently) to the American people.
What unfortunately seems inescapable is the virtual contempt
for the people of New Orleans (which must be repudiated) shown,not by the American people, but by certain of their representatives. Worse, the sense that We the People can do a thing about it seems to have all but vanished.
September 9, 2005 11:43 AM | Reply | Permalink
I also disagree, but this time with your disagreement. This is a failure of the particular people who are supposed to be running our government, not government.
September 9, 2005 12:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Great week Congressman Holt. Thanks for joining in our conversation (even quoting Langston Hughes!). Good to know that we have a strong progressive voice in the Garden State (along with a few others...)
September 9, 2005 12:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Great post Congressman Holt, and timely quotation to match.
Although my blog entry of today has many more rough edges than yours, it concludes on the same note.
nester23 raises an eye opener for me at least. Being a little bit new to political involvement, although not entirely new to politics - I was Angeles Chapter, Sierra Club's first volunteer webmaster and did that for 7 years. (Which was largely a "cry wolf" experience for me, it felt like anyways, while now 5 - 6 years later I notice that the Wolf is here, with this years and last years hurricane seasons.) I have endured seeing Al Gore lose the Presidency because of Ralph Nader and the Green Party blowing his election, only to endure a second helping of bad news when John Kerry lost (although I had preferred General Clark.)
Anyhow, getting back to nester23:
"Our government is currently run by people who believe that government always fails, and I'm sure there's a connection there."
That's absolutely frightening. It does seem like there is a conflict of interest. If you believe government is not the answer, then why would you care about who you hire to fill government posts? Even worse, why would the hired cronies care about their job performance?
Instead, they could try to proove themselves right, by causing an incompetent Government, by cutting taxes, then encourage Americans to send their tax savings to their local churches, only to have the churches come to the rescue when disasters strike, showing how efficient and righteous they are.
Of course it just might backfire on them this time. The GOP's ship just might be sunk, with Katrina.
September 9, 2005 12:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
I concur with the consenus here. Our Government has not failed us, those who are presently holding office have failed us. The silver lining is that Americans haven't failed us That so many among us have opened their hearts, their homes their cities and their pocketbooks to our family in NO.
I must however, impose a dose of reality into the dicussion. We are all quick to assert that people must be held accountable for there actions and choices When it comes to the collective, though, we are not so quick. The voters of this country elected all of these folks into office We on the Left can whine about stolen elections and such, but the truth is, not enough of us relaly cared enough to get out there and vote! The Democratic Party has failed to offer the American people a more attractive alternative, and that fact was taken advantage of in the last 2 elections. Now we see the sad consequences of our actions, first with the fiasco that is Iraq, and now on our own soil. We should have had a clue when we all found out that our troops in Iraq were not being provided with the proper resources they needed to protect themselves and it was revealed that their families were having to purchase the Body Armor for their own soldiers. What made people think we would fare any better here at home? Everyone knew before the last election that we had been lied to about WMD in Iraq, and yet, George W Bush was re-elected along with all his henchmen and his slash and burn agenda.
We on the Left need to take a deep collective breath here, and re-group. We need to offer the American people a viable alternative to the present situation. We need to offer an agenda of hope, and progress. A real solution to the problems that plague us both foreign and domestic. Real solutions, not empty unrealistic promises. I am looking to my Party to do just this, but until now I have been sorely disappointed.
September 9, 2005 1:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
I wouldn't be so hard on people. I also wouldn't call it "whining about stolen elections." Florida 2000 was clearly stolen. Ohio 2004 probably was (check the research on Rep. Conyers web site). People are frustrated because the present system is rigged in favor of big money. So a lot of poorer people opt out of the system we have. Unless we get a truly participatory democracy even someone as charismatic as Michael Moore was for many of us is going to have trouble having an effect. I busted my butt from day one to warn people about the Bushies - so did many adults and students I know. It's "hard work" when the MSM does such a lousy job (until Katrina anyway). Sure we need more millions of people being aware and working to force Bush to resign, but I sure as heck am not going to blame myself and all the hard-working anti-Bush people because this system is rigged. It's the dudes who do the rigging who need to blamed and held accountable.
September 9, 2005 7:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
Congressman Holt
Thank you for your participation here at the Cafe.
I agree with you that many Americans got a rude shock this week about our country. However, you are in Congress. You should be in a position, better than most of here to do something about this.
I am reminded of Bill Bradley stepping down from the Senate because he could not get enough done there. If a United State Senator has no power then something is very wrong with government.
When will those of you in office begin to do the hard things necessary to either make government responsive to its owners or if you think that is not possible then smaller so it is less dangerous.
September 9, 2005 2:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Being called a "leader" doesn't mean a person possesses leadership qualities. Holding prayer vigils doesn't necessarily mean that is a sign of compassion. Actions speak louder then everything else. And in the aftermath of Katrina our government was leaderless and uncaring. Instead of acts of compassion we saw indifference. The government was to busy looking for who to blame rather then trying to honestly assess it's shortcomings. The GOP in Congress is now saying they may approve up to $200 million in aid to the Gulf coast...well I have one thing to say to the GOP controlled Congress...money isn't everything and it doesn't make up for having no compassion either. Are we willing to take an honest look, as a country, at what just happened in the gulf?
September 9, 2005 3:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
After all, government is just another word for doing together those things that we can do better collectively than separately.
Yes, this formulation puts it very well, I think. The rigid ideology of the radical right (and the radical left -- but they're not in control of our nation!) doesn't seem to have much interest in what actually works. Whatever ideology dictates, to them, is what should be done, regardless of actual outcomes.
Some things, like human rights, are worth being ideological about, but otherwise? Both total government control and total government abdication are ugly. Good government is about the difficult and imperfect task of figuring out what works.
September 9, 2005 3:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
I gave money to the Red Cross and Salvation Army knowing that their organizations are experienced and will make my little bit do as much good as possible. I gave money to the IRS, too. to pay for up-front planning by FEMA and to cover US infrastructure upkeep by the Corps of Engineers.
FEMA has been taking up office space and getting paychecks using my tax dollars for the last few years. What have they been doing that they should so badly bungle one of the three textbook disasters that they use as one of their own examples?
Now we say that the government should do a proper job of reconstructing the city. We say they should (though they won't) offer competitive wages for those who take part in that reconstruction. They should offer fair and compassionate aid to all those who have suffered due to their bungling.
But we say that as though making them pay up for their mistakes ought to teach them a lesson. Yet that's not George Bush's money or his cronies', not with their tax cuts. It's mine and yours. We paid FEMA to fail to prepare and now we pay the price for that failure. We paid for the LA National Guard to go to Iraq and we paid for the levee repair funds to be sent to Iraq as well. And now we pay again for the disaster that results from such poor stewardship of the money we pool for the common good.
I don't mean to suggest that we should be stingy in any way with our aid to the victims. If it takes $100B - or more - to fund the relief and reconstruction, so be it. We Americans look after our own. But we certainly should not applaud Bush as though he were being generous with his own money. We're paying for this screw up either in tax dollars or the deficit that threatens to ruin our economy. Bush's administration shouldn't be let off the hook on that any more than he should on his contribution to the NOLA suffering.
September 9, 2005 5:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
The other side (powerline.com) sees it this way:
" And it seems clear that Hurricane Katrina, and the outrageous attacks that the Democrats have pursued over the past week, have dealt him, and the Republican Party, another blow. I see no evidence that the Democrats are paying a price for their dishonorable tactics. And they won't pay a price, unless the Republicans start defending themselves and attacking the Democrats the way they deserve to be attacked. The "turn the other cheek" approach that the administration has followed for years--don't respond to attacks, no matter how unfair, just try to ride out the news cycle and move on--has resulted in one needless wound after another, and cumulatively they have now damaged President Bush's standing with the public, likely beyond repair. "
September 9, 2005 6:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
National Public Radio had a very nice timeline for Katrina & New Orleans on All Things Considered today, surely available on-line.
Key takeaways are:
1. Lots of people were aware and prepared - local, state, federal agencies, and the people themselves. I think we will find that the evacuation was largely successful.
2. Communications broke down once Katrina hit land. Land-lines, cell phones stopped working, power went out and battery-powered communicators soon ran out of juice. The National Guard was depleted, via Iraq, of its emergency generation capacity.
3. There was a breakdown in the command section of the relief operation. National Guard from other states, FEMA contractors, contracted to supply water, ice, food, etc., were all ready to roll, from Sunday onwards, but all kept getting "wait, we haven't made a decision yet" when they called in asking whether they could get rolling.
September 9, 2005 6:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
"That you are on your own and better off on your own" I know most Americans have been praying, on their own, throughout this big ugly ordeal. Actually about forty-nine percent of us have been praying very hard for about the last five years, God help us. Half-meaures avail us nothing, it's one or the other, compassionate conservatism is much more than a lie. So....currently we have selectively limited goverment, which fifty-one percent of us supposedly voted for, whereby FEMA sets up roadblocks to prevent individualistic Americans from helping survivors whom they are paid to help, but don't. And that's about it. If we were truly on our own, self reliant, there would be no FEMA roadblocks so Americans could get to the damn disaster area and help. What do officials want from us, respect and obedience for bankruptcy? Don't you know that we still, absolutely, retain everything that has always made Americans great. We are still kind, caring, fiery, humble...faithful. How hard is it to stop at Walmart, pick up about two hundred bucks worth of water and canned goods, drive to the flooded area, ask Bob if he'll take you in his boat to the convention center, and head back detouring to Houston with a SUV full of Americans in need. Four days, four hundred bucks, and a road trip on the cheap (bring a dang tent you socialites). Help equals relief, which greatly reduces looting, shooting, crime. I'm amazed at how little criminal behavior there actually was (chock one up for the very patient American Poor/Meek). All they needed was food, water and some boats, which were all nearby. None of this happend with the half-assed version of goverment we have now. The double speak, kinder, gentler, "locked and loaded" version we have now. The one that doesn't help at all for three or four days while simultaneously preventing we the people from getting the job done. Hey children what's that sound...Will reality ever set in?
September 10, 2005 12:24 AM | Reply | Permalink