Avoiding a military dictatorship

Democrats have taken to bringing up every perceived Republican misstep over the last 50 years and hanging them around Judge Robert’s neck. Sen. Patrick J. Leahy in a sentiment echoed by Ted Kennedy said, "Today, the devastation, despair facing millions of our fellow Americans in the Gulf region is a tragic reminder of why we have a federal government, why it's critical that our government be responsive." You’d think Robert’s was being confirmed as head of FEMA rather than Chief Justice of the United States.

The worst thing about statements like Leahy’s is not their blatant and crass political opportunism but rather the fact that they are 180 out of phase. We do not have a federal government to pluck people, many just too stupid to get out of the way of a Cat 4 hurricane, from the roofs of their predictably flooded homes. We do not have a federal government so that we can have FEMA. We do not have a federal government so that we can federalize state responsibilities every time there is natural disaster. We do not have a federal government so that it can rob what now stands at - but is sure to go higher - $750 from every man, woman and child to pay for people who want to live in a sinkhole surrounded on three sides by water. We do not have a federal government to take the fall for clueless and corrupt local officials that not only do not respond to a disaster but make a series of dopey decision that actually make the situation worse.

Tasteless comments such Leahy’s are made for two purposes 1) to gain political advantage by telling people not worry Uncle will take care of everything –like Uncle has done such a great job lately 2) to grow the federal government using the odd logic that if FEMA failed, we need a bigger FEMA - a Grand FEMA or GFEMA. Politicians want to do stupid things. That’s what politicians do. But it’s not quite the same as you or I who might think there is money to be made selling snow cones in Alaska in January. We lose money - too bad. If the government decides that there is money to be made selling snow cones in Alaska in January, it first confiscates huge sums of our money to set up a bureaucracy for snow cone manufacturing. It then wastes huge sums of money regulating the Alaskan snow cone industry in ways that make it nearly impossible to make money – snow cones will only be sold on days that the mean ambient temp is below –10 degrees. When the industry fails, government will subsidize Alaskan snow cone venders by shipping ice from Hawaii. If any snow cone vender is successful the government will shut him down because of minority hiring practices, unsafe working conditions or his failure to use Hawaiian ice in his cones.

Now Democrats want more government for natural disasters. So who should get the money? I think the government agencies that performed well ought to get the money. As the only federal agency whose response was adequate, the military will get all of the money and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs will have the added responsibility of coordinating the federal response to natural disasters. If we continue to fund only federal agencies capable of doing their job throughout government, we will soon be living in military dictatorship. The only way to avoid that is for congress to fund the incompetents at ever higher levels – usually taking the funds from the military like some sort of a “peace dividend.”