Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Left sees Sandy as an opportunity to push for bigger government
American Thinker ^ | 10/31/2012 | Rick Moran

Posted on 10/31/2012 6:59:36 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

Yesterday's New York Times editorial: "A Big Storm Requires a Big Government":

*****

Disaster coordination is one of the most vital functions of "big government," which is why Mitt Romney wants to eliminate it. At a Republican primary debate last year, Mr. Romney was asked whether emergency management was a function that should be returned to the states. He not only agreed, he went further.

"Absolutely," he said. "Every time you have an occasion to take something from the federal government and send it back to the states, that's the right direction. And if you can go even further and send it back to the private sector, that's even better." Mr. Romney not only believes that states acting independently can handle the response to a vast East Coast storm better than Washington, but that profit-making companies can do an even better job. He said it was "immoral" for the federal government to do all these things if it means increasing the debt.

It's an absurd notion, but it's fully in line with decades of Republican resistance to federal emergency planning. FEMA, created by President Jimmy Carter, was elevated to cabinet rank in the Bill Clinton administration, but was then demoted by President George W. Bush, who neglected it, subsumed it into the Department of Homeland Security, and placed it in the control of political hacks. The disaster of Hurricane Katrina was just waiting to happen.

*****

Well, as the Wall Street Journal points out, Mitt Romney has no intention of eliminating FEMA but don't wait for the retraction. Instead, examine Romney's words in context, quoted in full by the WSJ:

*****

"Absolutely. Every time you have an occasion to take something from the federal government and send it back to the states, that's the right direction.

(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Government; News/Current Events; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: debt; federalism; fema; government; hurricanesandy; sandy; spending

1 posted on 10/31/2012 6:59:40 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

The Left sees the sun coming up as an opportunity to push for bigger government.


2 posted on 10/31/2012 7:00:43 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy (Global Warming is a religion, and I don't want to be taxed to pay for a faith that is not mine.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

I see I lost a 1 x 2 foot strip of siding.

I WANT MY FEMA PIE!!!!!


3 posted on 10/31/2012 7:01:45 AM PDT by cripplecreek (What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

What does the left NOT see as an opportunity to expand government? We see how well those government programs are managed. No thanks.


4 posted on 10/31/2012 7:01:51 AM PDT by Jane Long (Soli Deo Gloria!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jane Long

I think it was the mayor of NJ on FOX this morning hoping that FEMA will pay for dune restoration despite the fact that they don’t do it now.


5 posted on 10/31/2012 7:06:03 AM PDT by cripplecreek (What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: ClearCase_guy

The Left sees my hangnail as an opportunity to push for bigger government.....yawn.


6 posted on 10/31/2012 7:11:19 AM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind
Obama signed the bill for sequestration, which will cut FEMA by 10%.
Romney says: "I will not cut FEMA."

Media runs with the story: "Romney will cut FEMA!!!!!"

7 posted on 10/31/2012 7:11:31 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy (Global Warming is a religion, and I don't want to be taxed to pay for a faith that is not mine.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ClearCase_guy

8 posted on 10/31/2012 7:19:35 AM PDT by notaliberal
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

The NYSlimes conveniently forgot Iowa and Nashville. Of course, those folks showed the American Spirit of independence and fortitude, so they aren’t worth using for case studies.


9 posted on 10/31/2012 7:26:24 AM PDT by CSM (Keeper of the Dave Ramsey Ping list. FReepmail me if you want your beeber stuned.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

I do not donate to the Red Cross in any shape or form.

Red Cross or Red Crescent?

The Red Cross continues to fumble and stumble in its misson.

Recently I blogged on the unspeakable treatment of Christian convert at the hands of his Muslim tormentors. Afghan convert to Christianity is charged with Apostasy: “Crimes punishable by death ... and Afghan Convert Out of Islam Pleads for Mercy.

Now we hear that the Red Cross joins the cabal of savages by its complicity. Afghan judicial officials refused to bat an eye at the humiliation he endured in the hands of his fellow prisoners. Beatings, sleep-deprivation and sexual abuse are all a part of the nightmare that has unfolded after his arrest.

http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2010/12/red-cross-or-red-crescent.html

Red Cross bans Christmas to appease Muslims
Posted on December 17, 2010 by creeping

Self-imposed sharia, h/t Weasel Zippers via The Red Cross bans Christmas | Mail Online.

Christmas has been banned by the Red Cross from its 430 fund-raising shops.

Staff have been ordered to take down decorations and to remove any other signs of the Christian festival because they could offend Moslems.

The charity’s politically-correct move triggered an avalanche of criticism and mockery last night – from Christians and Moslems.

Christine Banks, a volunteer at a Red Cross shop in New Romney, Kent, said: ‘We put up a nativity scene in the window and were told to take it out. It seems we can’t have anything that means Christmas. We’re allowed to have some tinsel but that’s it.

http://creepingsharia.wordpress.com/2010/12/17/red-cross-bans-christmas-to-appease-muslims/

Red Cross changed its symbol to match One World religion

In a suburb of Oslo, the Red Cross has merged with the Islamic Red Crescent.

http://ivarfjeld.wordpress.com/2011/05/24/red-cross-changed-its-symbol-to-match-one-world-religion/


10 posted on 10/31/2012 7:30:55 AM PDT by KeyLargo
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

> Left sees Sandy as an opportunity to push for bigger government

And here I thought the Left was viewing Sandy as a way of diverting FEMA dollars into Obama’s re-election campaign.


11 posted on 10/31/2012 9:32:30 AM PDT by BuffaloJack (Children, pets, and slaves get taken care of. Free Men take care of themselves.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind
A Big Storm Requires a Big Government

Big government leads to:

1) increased violation of natural rights of the individual due to increased initiation of force by big government
2) increased control over individuals by government
3) loss of circumstantial freedom of self-realization of individuals (freedom of action)
4) loss of natural freedom of self-determination of individuals (free choice)
5) assault on causality in the form of destruction of the individual as a causal agent
6) assault on individualism and the primacy of the individual
7) potential of tyranny of the majority in a democracy
8) potential for loss of personal control by the individual
9) potential for loss of ability to choose and act by the individual
10) potential for the loss of the power to choose and act by the individual
11) potential for the loss of the freedom to choose and act by the individual
12) potential for the loss of personal responsibility by the individual

In a free country with a rational culture and a just government,the ends do not justify the means, and might does not make right. Helping some does not justify the use of force to harm others. Huge disasters are few and rare. The fact that a big government might be able to be of more help to some in the conditions of a huge disaster is not a valid rationalization that it should be present in normal conditions, because the overall harm of big government to everyone during normal conditions outweighs the good of big government to some during the conditions of a big disaster. In this case, the overall benefit to harm ratio for the country as a whole in the long run is too small.

12 posted on 10/31/2012 10:10:00 AM PDT by mjp ((pro-{God, reality, reason, egoism, individualism, natural rights, limited government, capitalism}))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson