updateI am tempted, VERY tempted, to take a trip down to DC and challenge New Jersey, New York Republicans on this issue on camera…..  weighing logistics and timing, but the vote is Friday…..

Chris Christie is not, repeat NOT, a conservative – He is a progressive.   He just wailed, screamed, protested, begged, belittled and held out his tin cup on TV for federal money to bail out New Jersey from Hurricane Sandy.    He continually used the term New Jersey “innocent victims”…  well, exactly what other kind of victim is there?

You.Must.Watch.This.Video….. Please.

First, there is a big difference between feeling empathy and sympathy for those in the affected areas, and seeing lives impacted by the overwhelming force of mother nature.  I feel sorry for them to have felt the brunt of such a storm, and now for so many to have to rebuild their lives.   But to watch people begging the federal government to “make them whole” is  the ultimate in-your-face nanny statist expectation.

Since when does the federal government have a role in mitigating risk and underwriting personal decisions?

Let me just pause and share a timely article from Pam Geller:

The United States of America was created as an independent nation whose founding ideal was the principle of individual rights. Freedom. Ayn Rand said that “freedom, in a political context, means freedom from government coercion.” America was the first moral government based on individual rights, the nation of the Enlightenment.

In this age of Obama, that ideal has been tossed aside for … “free stuff.”

I have, for some time, struggled with the new reality: America void of her reason, existing without the reason for her existence, her morality. It did not seem possible. And yet what now seems impossible is that America ever was. As we revert back to the age of the primitive, the fact that America happened at all is nothing short of a miracle.

The United States of America was the rational man’s shining hour.  (more)

right_wing_extremist

Watching Governor Chris Christie (NJ) and Representative Peter King (NY) beg the federal government for “bailout” money is sickening.

“They’re in New York all the time filling their pockets with money from New Yorkers. I’m saying right now, anyone from New York and New Jersey who contributes one penny to Congressional Republicans is out of their mind. Because what they did last night was put a knife in the back of New Yorkers and New Jerseyians.

It was an absolute disgrace… And why Republicans have this bias against New York, this bias against New Jersey, this bias against the Northeast. They’re wondering why they’re becoming a minority party? Why they’re going to be a party of the permanent minority?

What they did last night was so immoral, so disgraceful, so irresponsible. They’re supposed to be the party of family values? Yet families are starving, are suffering… I’ve had it. As far as I am concerned I’m on my own. They’re going to go a long way to get my vote on anything.“

I am not that old, yet I can well remember a time of independence in our nation when we railed against intervention from the Federal Government. Entire towns used to gather and stand at the outskirts on the streets telling federal authorities to turn around and go away – We don’t need your help.

Now, everyone, even Republicans, appear to be willing to stand on the doorstep to the regime hat in hand.

What the heck happened.?

Yes, hurricanes and natural disasters occur.  It is nature.   This has happened for years, eons.   Tornados, hurricanes, earthquakes, fires, floods et al have wiped out people and their property for all time.   Entire towns have been wiped out.   This is not anything new and will happen again, unfortunately.

Yes, homes and property are destroyed.   That is why people are told to purchase insurance.  That is why Mortgage companies will not lend money to build a home without the home borrower purchasing “insurance” in the event of loss.    That is what “insurance” is for;  and beyond the coverage you may or may not have within your policy, your entire life savings can be simultaneously wiped out as you attempt to rebuild your life.

Such is the decision you make when you choose the location to purchase property, choose where to work, or start a business, and to a greater extent where you choose to locate your family.

The federal government has a responsibility to respond in the immediate aftermath to protect the lives of people.  Then to clear the way so that people can use their resources, key words “their resources” to rebuild their lives.

It is not the role of federal government to rebuild your life for you.   Arguably it is not the role of the State Government either, but that is a decision made between you and your elected officials.   YOUR elected officials.

Why should a “federal” taxpayer in Kansas be mitigating the risk -through the federal government- of your decision to live on the coast, the beach, or in an area at greater risk from disaster, and then simultaneously be tasked with paying for your life to be rebuilt and get you back the flat screen TV?

If you cannot protect yourself, and your decision do not protect you from the impacts, and your local government cannot assist, and the State Government cannot mitigate, then why the heck should the federal government step in?

I think one of the proudest moments in the life of a conservative Floridian was when Jeb Bush, on the heals of four cat IV virtually simultaneous hurricanes in the summer of 2004 (Frances, Gustov, Ivan, Jeanne) being called to congress to provide information.

Bush and other coastal governors were asked what the federal government could do to assist them.   After all other governors gave their opinion, then governor Jeb Bush paused and said “nothing”, just stay out of our way and allow us to rebuild with our own plans, resources and emergency/contingency funds.

Why should the federal government be intervening in New Jersey and New York?

Why should they be provided any bailout money?

Why should John Boehner and the Republican Majority in the House of Representatives be raked over the coals for refusing to send buckets of your tax dollars to them?

Please share your thoughts in the comments and help me to understand how this type of logic aligns itself with “individual responsibility.”

Thanks.

Baby Newt

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