Last time I wrote about how we all benefit from socialism. Now, in the wake of the devastating and tragic tornado outbreak, I must write again on the subject of how we need some form of government to look after us.
Rand Paul, the junior Senator representing Kentucky and professed Libertarian, claims to be an enemy of “big government.” Yet when his state needs Federal assistance, he begs like a dog for help. Paul went awfully quickly from condemning the “evils” of socialism to whimpering for federal assistance from the very Big Government he despises.
Paul voted against providing Federal aid to New Jersey after Hurricane Sandy. He voted against aid for Texas after Hurricane Harvey. He voted against aid for Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. But when his home state takes it on the chin, he sings a different tune.
Already right-wing bugnuts, such as former Senate candidate and Qanon supporter Lauren Witzke, are blaming the tornado outbreak on the things that right-wingers hate, such as abortion and gay marriage. Never mind that Kentucky, the state that was hit hardest, has two very right-wing Senators – the aforementioned Paul, and the hated Mitch McConnell. Funny, I haven’t heard anybody blame McConnell’s re-election in 2020 for the twisters. Maybe it’s because people on the Left are less prone to regard disasters as visitations of divine wrath for real or imagined sins.
President Biden has vowed long-term aid for Kentucky to recover from the devastating storms. At least he’s doing a lot more than toss packs of paper towels at the tornado survivors. A government run by Libertarians would say, “Suck it up, buttercup – ask the Red Cross for help.” Anybody who thinks that private charity can entirely replace government assistance is a fool.
Many years ago I saw a two-panel editorial cartoon that demonstrates why we need a strong central government. In the first panel a man in a horse-drawn wagon is giving a spiel against big government talking about how it has too much power, blah, blah, blah. In the second panel, a young man has driven up in a large truck with some huge sacks labeled various things that a centralized government provides. I forget exactly what the labels on the bags are – it’s been years since I saw the cartoon, and I can’t find it on the Internet. He is saying to the man in the wagon “Like to take on some of the load?” The first man and the horse are both wigging out.
We don’t know the value of water till the well runs dry. We don’t know the value of “big government” till we need it.
2 Responses to “SOUND OFF! 12/18/21 – Kentucky Twisters Expose Libertarian Hypocrisy”
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I can go along with retribution, if, under that heading, you include natural consequences of bad behavior (in other words, “Eff around and find out.”) In this case, bad behavior was ignoring climate change. I don’t just mean the Kentucky as a whole (there must be exceptions) failed to change habits in ways to slow climate change down. In order to be effective, that requires participation for everyone globally. Insead, I’m thinking of failing to prepare for extreme weather events.
Yes, that’s unfair to the Governor, and to many citizens – preparation requires resources, and I’m sure the resources weren’t there. But if this doesn’t make people realize that, given time, every one of us is a sitting duck for some kind of disaster, then all of us dullards will be effing around. And in time, we eill find out. Even libertarians like Idiot son of Idiot named for Idiot.
Thanks Freya. We are paying for not responding fast enough to science on climate change, a kind of retribution for our poor decisions.
Thankfully, after the GOP Governor’s ghastly victimization of teachers, KY had elected a DEM who views the job as one of public service and, before the GOP legislature stripped him of effective action options on Covid, had kept their death and hospitalization rates low. He is also rising to this occasion with having changed the cabins, etc. in State Parks from vacation use to housing for evacuees (it has been cold there) providing what State government can with State resources, along with speed on disaster declarations and federal requests. And I read yesterday that power had been restored to 90% of those first impacted with most of the remaining 3-4000 being in Mayfield, the city that was decimated.
Not much preparation one can make other than underground shelters in how homes are built for tornados (the state that has no regulations for hospitals even). And it is the kind of requirement that is virtually impossible to add to existing buildings. MN had tornados about the same time with major damage, yet I do not think they had proportionate deaths (I think the deaths may all have been in other states and more due to high winds)https://abcnews.go.com/US/rare-tornadoes-strike-americas-heartland-destroying-homes-knocking/story?id=81786938