:: Running from the Thought Police ::

:: Wednesday, September 07, 2005 ::

Alas, Alack

Or: How I learned to stop worrying and eat cake.

New local blogger Brett Lill has revealed his true colors as a Libertarian in his views on the aftermath of Katrina. I already posted one response to his post that dealt with some of the specific details. However, I think my second response is much more valuable to have on the front page of my blog than to just leave buried in someone else's (or my own) comments section. So here it is:

You have this whole issue ass-backwards. Over the past five years the Bush administration has been implementing the neocon dream: dimembering the federal government to the point that a hollow shell remains, then letting it break and saying "oops, it doesn't work, let's get rid of it," even though the failure was really the fault of mismanagement and neglect. Don't believe me? Then why did the heads of FEMA and the DHS both have absolutely no prior experience in emergency management? And why is the EPA headed up by a person who used to lobby against that very agency? It's not because they're experts, it's because they could be counted on to not do their jobs.

You're fitting into this whole scheme very well, by the way. You're sitting there and going "Oh, see, the system doesn't work, let's get rid of it," which is exactly what they want. You didn't see the careful amounts of neglect that went into this. The liberals are calling for Bush's head not just because he's the man who should be kicking the asses of Chertoff and Brown instead of covering them, but because we've watched him as he's slowly taken apart the federal government through program cuts and malign neglect. Anyone who's been paying attention knows that Bush and his buddies are out to drown the government in a bathtub or New Orleans, whichever has fewer dead bodies floating in it at the time. This isn't new. To go and call the government incompetent when it's been set up to be that way over the past five years is either disingenuous or plain old stupid.

My assumption that government would be better under a anyone other than a neocon or a libertarian is not implicit, it's quite explicit - have your government run by people who will actually do their jobs instead of a)nothing or b)actively dismantling their departments and agencies and it will actually work. The underlying issue at play with this isn't whether or how the federal government should respond to emergencies, although that's important. This discussion, combined with that over Social Security, taxes, evironmental protection, and the like is really a discussion on whether or not we're going to have a functioning federal government in ten, fifteen, or twenty years.

As a final thought/parting shot, I included an additional coment because Brett and his Libertarian buddies continue to demonstrate that they have no idea of what it means to be poor.

I won't directly respond to your barbaric bit about poor people taking some personal responsibility. I'm sure enough has been said elsewhere about Libertarianism being a means for upper and upper-middle class people to say "I'm set, no need to worry about those other people," and somehow continue to respect themselves as human beings that I shouldn't have to address such things personally.

I wonder if this post'll create as much outcry as the sorority one did last week. I personally don't think so, but you, dear readers, are free to prove me wrong on that point. Please observe the comments policy.

:: The Squire 3:38 AM :: email this post :: ::
...