“HOUSTON, we
have a problem!” The tragedy of Houston
is much on the minds of citizens of all areas of the country, as it was for
residents of New Orleans during the devastation of Katrina, and for residents
of eastern states during Sandy. We
applaud the neighbor-to-neighbor assistance, help, bravery and caring that has
been the most inspirational aspect of this dire situation. But we grieve and blanch at the scenes of
devastation and loss that pervade that area.
We have contributed to the Red Cross as much as possible, but we know
that it will take many more private contributions and the dedication of
governmental resources to heal this region over time. We pray that those children and adults affected may find the way back to a stable status and to a life that brings its own measure of happiness.
We visited
in New Orleans several years after Katrina hit there. We saw new modern alternative energy homes built at the initiation and sponsorship of movie stars, we heard of
special efforts to bring back musicians who had been affected by the storm. Progress had been made, the city was alive and vibrant, but
some people had never recovered, and the lack of flood insurance meant they had
a minimal chance of doing so. Government
help, whether in New York and New England for damaging floods there, or in New
Orleans, or in Houston, has been both good in some respects and bad in
others. But, without government help at
all levels, the devastating effects would be much worse, rescues would have
been many fewer, and recovery much slower..
However, the
problem of which we speak goes deeper.
There is the problem of flood insurance that few can afford. There is the loss of lives because
of several reasons, one of which is the inability of official or unofficial
responders to get to all those who were trapped. That was also a sad story in New Orleans
where people died in their top floors and attics because no one could get to
them.
There is also the
problem of budget cuts, especially at the federal level, that will reduce the
ability to respond from that level. FEMA
faces a $ 875 million cut in the 2018 proposed Trump budget even while Trump promised
$1 million of his own money in aid to Houston residents. The AP raised the following question: “As
the death toll
from Hurricane Harvey reaches 47 and damage estimates approach
record-setting levels, the need for financial assistance for the victims has
become frantic. But will the tragic scale of the storm affect a proposed $876
million cut to FEMA’s future relief funding?”
Will Trump deliver on his promise of $1 million of his own fortune to
help? His record on this score is not
good. Remember, if you will, part of the $875 mil in
cuts was meant for building the Wall on our Mexican border.
But, there
is something far deeper here that can definitely get lost in the tragedy of
this event. That is, the inability of government to fully protect and defend
its People. Government (as well as the
private sector) is unprepared at all levels to deal with these disasters in the
manner that will produce optimum results.
FEMA doesn’t have enough resources.
Local governments do not have enough resources (and sometimes no
emergency plans) to deal most effectively with these disasters. Just how long have we had the opportunity to
address these natural disasters with modern implements? Almost a century
perhaps. In all that time, what has government
(and the private sector) done to learn lessons from these events and
experiences? What is it that we need,
based on all the emergencies we have faced?
Another cabinet department to deal with emergencies only? Maybe; but I doubt it
.
Of course,
there is a reserve emergency fund at the national level to enable people to
recover from such natural disasters, and the AP did report preliminary discussions
in the WH to add substantial amounts to that reserve fund. Apparently, a
decision has been made to send lawmakers an initial request for a $7.9
billion down payment toward Harvey relief and recovery efforts. “The request, expected to be swiftly approved by Congress, would add $7.4
billion to rapidly dwindling Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster aid
coffers and $450 million to finance disaster loans for small businesses.” Republican leaders are already making plans
to use the aid package, certain to be overwhelmingly popular, to win speedy
approval of a contentious increase in the federal borrowing limit.
So, why can’t
they also address the sticky issue of flood insurance and come up with a public
option much like we should have had in the ACA?
Finally, it
goes much deeper still. Yes, we
do have a problem, and it goes to something that prevents us from dealing in a
fundamental way with what you and others, have experienced. We have a government—and an agency
responsible for our environment: the EPA -- being run by people who actually
deny the existence of climate change, of environmental crisis, of the importance
of being in on a world-wide pact – the Paris Accords. That Agreement actually brought the whole world
together to work on the attack upon our planet by human beings and business
enterprises being their most thoughtless, greedy, stupid and uncaring. They are poisoning our planet and ignoring
the causes and the consequences.
If we
continue to regard each of these climate events as separate occurrences,
unrelated to a systemic problem that most likely causes all of it, we shall be
buried by the consequences. Just as
certain animals are becoming extinct, and just as other planets may once have
nurtured life forms that died out as the planet over-heated or was made
unlivable (by gasses or chemicals, by bacteria or viruses -- by whatever might
be unrecognized and uncontrolled), we could face an atmosphere that becomes
unfriendly to human life.
The rub is
this: extinction or unlivable conditions
or poisoned water, air and food seem a long way off, the time to deal with such
events is not when they are happening; the time is right now. The future is the present, because it is now that the
remedies and solutions and actions must take place or the problems will be
beyond the reach of those immediately threatened by them. We are called to act in the present to save
the future for others.
This is the
epitome of a contractual society: acting on behalf of others who will not have
the ability or opportunity to save themselves. It
is a concept that applies to the welfare of human beings: a contract we have
with unknown people to protect and defend them even though we don’t know if
they ‘deserve’ that help. Can a
government that denies the imperative of social responsibility for one another,
supported by wealthy industrialists who also deny any responsibility for their communities or their neighbors – ever understand and act on that unsigned social contract? It is very doubtful. Can a government that denies a need for food
stamps or flood insurance options, or health care as a right not a privilege or
social security as a necessity for retirees, or who deny the necessity of Head
Start or of Meals on Wheels for children and Seniors – can such a government even be trusted to address
the saving of our planet? I doubt it
very much.
The answer
to “Why?” Is disturbing. They cannot
allow their ideology to be compromised, even with human lives and life at
stake. Take another example to see this
clearly. Trump has put aggression and
toughness at the top of his definition of leadership. He desperately wants to prove that he is an
authoritarian leader. Despite the
findings of science that a nuclear war would be fatal to much of our civilization
and to much of our environment, depending on the power of the bombs used, Trump
insists on acting very aggressively toward Kim Jong Un and North Korea. He has threatened ‘fire and fury as never
seen before.’
So, no
matter what scientists say will happen to human life and the life span of the
planet, Trump is willing to put authoritarian leadership – a staple of the
Right-wing – very high on his priorities list to be seen as more important than
life itself. He is a damn fool, crazy
enough to place all of our lives on the sacrificial altar of Fuhrership. Ideology before People – that is Trump – that
is the Republican Right-wing – that is the Alt Right and that is Fascism.
Yes, we do
have a problem, and its name is Trump/McConnell/Ryan/Alt Right/climate change
denier/Myron Ebell/EPA.
In stark
contrast, without regard to worthiness, or differences in social class, race or
political or religious creeds, citizens of Houston (and elsewhere) reached out
to people in peril and in need to fulfill the responsibility that belongs to us
all: the responsibility of caring for people, no matter what differences may
exist. If ordinary human beings can do
that in times of crisis, they can do it in other critical times as well.
Instead of
being inspired by the beneficent actions of people helping people, this Trump
administration will continue to place partisan political and conservative
economic ideology plus de-(con)struction higher in priority than the general
welfare of the People. Watch carefully
how this prediction will come forth out of his Tax Reform proposals and his proposed
budget.
