No more big government? Really?

Boy, they sure are rushing to get all the federal government help they possibly can for the huge oil spill off the shore of Louisiana.  And that includes Republican governor and former Congressman Bobby Jindal, who for a while was viewed as a rising star in the once-GOP.  Jindal opposed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and he had actively advocated legislation to eliminate the moratorium on offshore oil and gas drilling over the outer continental shelf.  He wants more, more more, and of course will get it, too.

I have to say, though, why should we who live in Illinois bother with Louisiana?  They are opposed to helping other areas of the nation apparently, and have been whining now over this, on top of Katrina damage.  They are too much trouble, aren't they?  Let them celebrate the civil war if they want, let them secede if they want, let them go off and have a government run by tea-baggers and right-wing talk TV hosts.  Who needs them?  Let them sink into the ocean.

But of course that isn't how it works in America.  The national government does indeed spring into action when the need is great.  Certainly it has been like that since the Great Depression and New Deal.  Or at least it does when it doesn't have a president as unaware and incompetent as George W. Bush, the father of of a whole series of disasters, one after the other.

The other point I would like to make is that BP, the operator of the Deep Horizon drilling platform, clearly doesn't have the resources to deal with this.  It is so foolish to trust the "private sector."  They are in the business of making big profits for shareholders and executives, not for preventing environmental damage, mine disasters, or financial fraud and meltdowns.

I wonder if this will sink in, and the reasons that we have government, that we have government at all, and that we do and must have "big government" in this complex era, will start to sink in to the public at large.

Comments

[Jenn F.]

[this is good] I wish. I am not hopeful, but I do wish that there would be a realization. I remember puzzling over a map graphic that I saw somewhere in the leadup to the 2004 election (dark, dark days), It showed the now hackneyed red-blue state breakdown. Then there was another map that showed which states gave more tax dollars to the fed than they got in return, and which got more than they gave. Ironically, they maps were pretty damn similar. I wish I could find the graphic, though I did find a table. It's kind of startling-- I mean, Sister Sarah, anti-tax teabagger crusaderess was heading up, for the thirty seconds she was governor, a welfare state. For every dollar they put in, they pulled $1.84 out of the kitty. And yet, usually reliably blue New York, with a huge population and lots of infrastructure needs only gets 79 cents back for every dollar. Because Alaska and Mississippi are hogging more than their fair share and whining that they shouldn't have to pay anything into the kitty to get more than everyone else out. 

[DoctorD42]

Jenn, I believe I am correct in saying that Alaska is the most "socialist state."  They get lots of money from oil and other natural resources, and every resident gets an automatic check every year just for living there.

See the discussion of the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend.  In 2008, the payout was over $3,000 per person.

[Katiebell]

Jindal, on television seen saying he thinks the big government he opposes should "do more".Awful.

If it reaches the Florida coast and I am able to go I hope I can help clean up some pelicans.

Geez, I think I should get paid for being under 65 and living in Florida! 

[Random Musings]

[this is good]

[Jenn F.]

[this is good] Happy to know someone is ready on the pelican detail!