Erick-Woods Erickson
A lot of people who think the government is a mess are upset that it has been slow to respond to Helene. Of course it has. What did you expect?
In fact, it was FIVE DAYS after the storm struck that Joe Biden really mobilized the government. The Southern Baptist Convention was already on the ground while the flood waters were still raging.
The government is not going to help you.
You think FEMA is a mess? You’re damn right it is. You do not need to imagine maliciousness when the government that got research showing COVID doesn’t spread well outside decided to shut down beaches. You do not need to imagine maliciousness when the government that got research showing COVID mostly does not affect kids chose to shut down elementary schools. You do not need to imagine maliciousness when the government cannot deliver the mail competently, which is an Article 1, Section 8 responsibility, unlike disaster relief.
Besides, these people are fools, and a dementia patient leads them.
Pete Buttigieg and the Biden Administration have hindered private aviation’s ability to rescue people and ferry supplies as needed because Buttigieg et al put their trust in Uncle Sam’s man boob. Meanwhile, in North Carolina, neighbors are helping neighbors. Towns are rallying. Private helicopter pilots are defying threats of arrest to rescue people. Private pilots are shuttling supplies as needed. Baptists and Mormons are working together as first responders.
The question should not be about the government stopping citizens’ private charity but about the response of those citizens and communities to the government trying to stop them. After all, the government is ultimately beholden to the people.
Joe Biden’s government wants people to rely on the government. After all, Democrats believe the government is the only thing we are all a part of. They forget about the community. We are all part of one. And our local community is what will help us through hard times. The local communities of North Carolina will provide more help than FEMA. The state government of North Carolina and its neighbors will provide more immediate resources and do more heavy lifting than the federal government and that is by design and how it should be.
FEMA has prioritized equity for relief distributions, and it’s still looking for underserved non-white communities in the mountains to help first.
FEMA and the feds should be a last resort. These disasters are best recovered at the state level, with an assist from the Feds. Local and state disasters are not, after all, in Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution.
Currently, however, some people on social media profit from rumors, unsourced allegations, and lies. My personal favorite is about Chimney Rock, NC, where the feds have purportedly told people they’re going to leave the bodies in the street and let them rot, then bulldoze the town and take the land. Seriously — that allegation had over 2,000,000 views on Twitter.
It is not true.
How do I know? I asked my friend who lives in Chimney Rock who survived the disaster.
Lots of people are showing drone footage, claiming no one is coming to help the locals. Well, someone is there—bulldozers and dump trucks are working. You can see them in the very footage used as proof no one is there to help.
It is probably not FEMA, but it is not supposed to be. Despite the branding, FEMA is not actually a first responder and never has been. We’ve only been conditioned to think FEMA comes first because of Anderson Cooper’s outrage about the incompetent state and federal response to Katrina on CNN in 2005.
The Southern Baptists always show up first.
Americans show up first. They are first in and last out, as they should be. The government is not malicious. The trolls are preying on many people’s existing distrust of government to sow more discord and division. If it sounds super outrageous online, it just might not be true.
You want to hate Joe Biden and his administration and the trolls are preying on your desire to hate, feeding the furnace of hate with half-truths, distortions, and lies. They prey on the paradox that conservatives hate and distrust the government but think the government should show up and competently help. You see this thing on Twitter that kindles your rage about the government’s handling of the disaster response, it just might not be the whole truth.
What is true is that Americans will take care of each other, with or without the federal government. And this, my friends, is another reminder that we should not grow the federal government for Republican purposes. We should gut it and encourage people to rely more on their local communities and states.
In his pamphlet, “A Simple Way To Pray,” Martin Luther said of the line “Give us this day our daily bread,” in the Lord’s Prayer, that we should reflect on it praying, in part, “Grant to every estate-townsman or farmer-to be diligent and to display charity and loyalty toward each other.”
We get our daily bread not directly from God, but from the farmer who grows the wheat, the harvester who harvests the wheat, the petrol man who makes the gas to fuel the combine and truck that goes to market, the grocer who sells it, and the relief operator who buys it and delivers it to the mountains to those in need. It is the body of Christ working and the people in communities working who are going to provide relief and rescue.
The government will not save us. FEMA will not save us. We will save each other.
“[S]eek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.”
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Je 29:7). (2016). Crossway Bibles.
