How much government do we need? More than some like to think.

 

Some may find this post insensitive.

 

Get over it.

 

My heart goes out to the Texans affected by the flooding over the past week. I’m sure it’s a great comfort to them [insert sarcasm font] that Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, aka Auschwitz Barbie (no known relation to Klaus) has said she intends to do away with FEMA “as we know it” while FEMA as it exists is working feverishly to resolve the situation on the ground.

 

The problems were exacerbated by DOGE’s cuts to the National Weather Service, and not just the meteorologists. Many staff positions tasked with getting out the word about impending crises were cut, so timely notifications didn’t go out.

 

Texas was no help. The county refused to update the warming system that might have got a lot of the dead out of harm’s way. They said it wasn’t worth $1 million. Given the death toll at this writing is 119, that means the county government didn’t think a human life was worth $8,403.36. That valuation will go down as more bodies are found.

 

While my heart goes out to everyone affected, let’s be honest: many of them brought this on themselves. This is the heart of MAGA country, advocating for lower taxes and smaller government. They’ve voted this way for years, and the 2024 election brought things to a head.

 

Look in the mirror, people. There’s blood on your hands, too. Now what are you prepared to do about it? Double down with the same old same old platitudes about owning the libs and the virtues of a libertarian state? Or will you open your eyes and realize there are a lot of things government does that don’t affect your day-to-day life but are critical when the shit hits the fan.

 

Using DOGE logic  – and, by association 47, as DOGE is his fault – that support personnel are just bureaucrats who sit behind desks sucking at the public teat al day, the Army doesn’t need cooks or quartermasters. The Army’s mission is to fight, right? Cooks and quartermasters don’t fight; why do we need them?

 

Every organization, public AND private, needs people to support those at the tip of the spear or the tip is blunted. Those who cheer the massive, arbitrary, and destructive cuts to the federal government would do well to look in the mirror at the changes that now DO directly affect their lives, ask themselves what role they played, and see what their consciences dictate they should do next.

 

While we’re here, these are questions the Democrats should be pushing. It is NOT too soon after a tragedy to ask these hard questions. It’s not a question of politicizing a tragedy; it’s a matter of facing hard facts