…will liberals give him credit for the “almost festive atmosphere” in Qualcomm Stadium?
Of course not. And nor should they.
By almost all accounts, the federal-state disaster relief coordination has been far, far better in California than it was in New Orleans. But was the difference that FEMA and President Bush had learned their lesson? A little. And there are differences in the nature of the disasters, of course.
But mostly, it was the fact that the local government didn’t sit around and wait for someone to help them while complaining about racism that didn’t exist. Californians elected a competent Governor to replace an incompetent one, and the state had properly planned ahead for disasters of a type common to the region. The people of San Diego forced out their corrupt mayor, instead of electing him to another term. Socal’s bribe-taking US Representative is in prison, not still in the US Congress. Whatever else you can say about the politics of Californians, lately they’ve had a pretty decent record of keeping their thumb on their government.
In other words, it’s the quality of the local government that matters. And that’s why conservatives understand that government – and the control and accountability that goes with it – must be kept as local as possible if we’re to retain our personal liberty.
If the federal government screws up hurricane relief, the people of one or two cities can’t do much to punish them for it, and the rest of the country just doesn’t have much dog in their fight. Same thing with any other regional natural disasters, like earthquakes, tornadoes, blizzards, volcanoes, or whatever. The local governments can get votes by complaining about the feds, and the feds don’t have any real incentive to respond to such a small group of voters.
This is precisely why the federal government is (or at least, is supposed to be) one of limited, enumerated powers. When sovereignty is divided, there must be clear delineation of responsibility. Otherwise, it is far too easy for the entrenched politicians in both sovereigns to simply point fingers at each other (or at global warming). And when that happens, it is far too difficult for the People to hold ANY government responsible, thus robbing them of their natural right to determine their own destinies.
(Of course, what’s really bizarre to me is that people with such a low opinion of President Bush’s competence are so upset that he doesn’t have even more power over our paychecks, medical decisions, property, etc. But those are other posts for other days…)
