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- iHaveNet.com: Politics
by Bill Press
At first, it didn't seem so bad. Irene came ashore in North Carolina a Category 1 hurricane, not the Category 3 hurricane meteorologists had predicted. And in many areas along the Eastern seaboard, including Washington, D.C., it seemed to be little more than a big rainstorm.
Then the worst of it hit -- in upstate New York and Vermont, where the most serious destruction was caused, not by the winds, but by the heavy rains and historic flooding. And, within days, Irene -- with losses expected to exceed
But, as powerful as she was, Irene didn't just leave death and destruction behind in her wake. She also left a powerful lesson -- which some politicians are too pig-headed to understand.
That lesson is clear for all to see:
That lesson is clear for all to see -- except blind tea partiers like Ron Paul and Eric Cantor. Paul, whose hatred of government knows no bounds (except when it comes to cashing his own federal paycheck), wants simply to abolish
Yes,
Cantor takes a different, but equally diabolic, approach. He wouldn't shut down
No state suffered more hurricane damage than Vermont. And nobody expressed more outrage at Cantor's cold-hearted response than Vermont's Senator Bernie Sanders. "To say that the only way you can come up with funding to rebuild devastated communities is to cut back on other desperately needed programs is totally absurd," Sanders told the
But, of course, Cantor was not always an apostle for offsets. Under George W. Bush, for example, neither he nor John Boehner demanded cuts in other programs to pay for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq or Bush's tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. Not even for disaster relief. In 2004, Cantor in fact voted against an amendment by Texas Republican Jeb Hensarling which would have "fully offset" the cost of disaster assistance for Tropical Storm Gaston. He then demanded and received
In one of his more idiotic statements, Glenn Beck called Hurricane Irene a "blessing" -- because it might inspire people to stockpile three months of emergency food supplies. But, surprisingly enough, Beck may turn out to be right, although not in the sense he intended.
Hurricane Irene will, indeed, prove to be a blessing if it shakes America free from this absurd, tea party, anti-government rhetoric we hear so much of today. Isn't it obvious, after Irene? The federal government has a very important role to play. In so many ways, we need it. We depend on it. And it's worth paying taxes for.
Those who disagree are free to vote for politicians who share their anti-government views. However, when disaster strikes again, the rule should be: No FEMA dollars to any districts led by tea partiers -- who hate government but are the first to stick their hands out for federal help. Let them practice what they preach.
AMERICAN POLITICS
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The Lessons of Hurricane Irene | Politics
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