So...who will pay the millions and millions of dollars it will take to get the east coast back on its feet?
Well, ideally, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) would cover it. That is, after all, what it was set up to do. It would seem to me that that is a huge part of the government's purpose overall-to help its citizens in times of need. However, various conservative members of our government have other ideas. Ron Paul, for example, doesn't think the government should put up any money for disaster relief or prevention. He thinks the American populace should begin to wean itself of its dependence on the federal government. (Anarchy, anyone?) He mentions 1900, 1940, 1950, and 1960 to suggest that disaster relief is something new. In fact, the United States government has been helping communities stricken my natural disasters for quite some time. Paul mentions a storm which hit his home state in 1900 as an example of the ideal situation. He seems to have forgotten that this storm left so many dead that the people of Galveston were unable to bury them all. Either he doesn't know his history very well, or he really believes piles of dead are a desirable outcome. Neither of these makes him a very good candidate for president. House majority leader Eric Cantor has a somewhat less drastic, yet still controversial, solution. He wants funding for disaster relief to come out of some other program. the money to help out Missouri after it was hit by a tornado was taken from alternative energy research. For the flooding, money was taken from the fund for Missouri... While this provides more money for the east coast than Ron Paul would like, this has an unfortunate effect on the people of Missouri.
Hopefully Washington can pull itself together and provide assistance to everyone, as that is what the government is there to do. Of the people, by the people, FOR the people.
1 comment:
I completely agree with your post. I think that in times of natural disaster such as Hurricane Irene, and especially considering it’s ranking in the “top ten most expensive natural disasters” we need help from the FEMA/the government. Although Paul may have a point, I believe if he is also being a bit irrational. People are suffering right now, and they need help, various private donations and other means of help, won’t nearly do as much as FEMA can do. I don’t think it’s necessarily dependence on government as Paul stated, but more or so resourcefulness, where else are the people on the East Coast going to receive the necessities they should rightfully have to rebuild, without possibly leaving a burden on another state?
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