Deep Idiocy

There is in this country a strong anti-government streak. At their best the anarchistic folks who embody that streak talk about rugged individualism, and at their worst they talk about the deep state, inferring that all public servants are somehow part of a nefarious plot to take away the rights of free citizens. “Free citizens” sounds like something from a dark past when there were slaves and other people who were not so free, and it is. Therein lies part of the myth. Free citizens meant privileged citizens, and the fear is that those others, those who are less fortunate and therefore less privileged might try to get from the government what the government so freely grants to the privileged. What a terrible thing that would be! Why that's almost egalitarian socialism. And how are you supposed know who you are better than if you don't have privileges not enjoyed by everyone?

“Many people consider the things government does for them to be social progress but they regard the things government does for others as socialism." [Address to National Press Club in Washington DC, as quoted in Freedom and Union (April 1952)]” ― Earl Warren The deep state idiots don't need no stinkin' government until they do! Then by God! They paid for it, didn't they?

Unfortunately the demonization of government by Trump and the Republican Party is far too likely to make “you can't depend on the government” a self fulfilling prophesy. As the Washington Post pointed out “Trump would slash disaster funding to the very agencies he’s praising for Harvey response.”  So what is the role of government in the event of natural disasters? The government must go beyond the first response of  helping to save lives. The Federal Government must embrace the same philosophy that provided the infrastructure spending commerce and manufacturing depend on; it must take the long term view and help to rebuild this productive and prosperous hub of industry. It must do this in spite of the fact that Texans did their best to set the precedent of telling other states (particularly Democratic ones) devastated by Hurricanes to go to hell. That is right, almost every congressman from Texas and both of its Senators, John Cornyn and Ted, the Canadian Texas turd, Cruz voted against funding aid to the parts of New York and New Jersey ravished by Hurricane Sandy, and they did this in spite of the fact that such funding has always been provided without question! Now that Texas is in need of such aid Ted Cruz is denying that he refused to vote for such aid. He says he just wanted to make sure the aid was paid for. Considering the fact that he wanted to pay for it by robbing senior citizens on Medicare it is not surprising that every legislator with a conscience told him to stuff that proposal back into the dark and smelly place where it was formed.

The fact that Democrats will probably vote to provide the Huston area with the funds it will need to rebuild rather than using the refusal of Texans to provide such funds to New York and New Jersey as a precedent is a sure indication of which party is responsible for the great political divide and hyper partisanship we see today.  I would like to think that Republicans in general and Texans in particular would learn something from the responsible behavior of Democrats in this instance, but I would not hold my breath because most of them are still Trump chumps!