Burning California

3 November 2003


Fire Destroys Miles of Southern California

By the time this is posted to the web, the death toll from California's fires, now at 20, will likely be higher and the official count of homes destroyed will surpass the 850 currently confirmed as burned to nothingness. The governor-elect has already been to Washington to plead for help in rebuilding. If the Bush administration's previous track record is anything to go by, Mr. Schwarzenegger would have been better off trying to blow the flames out.

The reason national governments exist is to provide those things that local populations cannot provide for themselves. Defense against external aggression is the best example. When that aggression comes not from humans but from nature, the devastation can be even more complete. Fires, earthquakes floods, blizzards and hurricanes can easily overwhelm the local economy and government. Enter Washington, DC, with a check book to get things going again. Only the most extreme libertarian could object to such uses of tax dollars.

But in order for those tax dollars to be used, they have to arrive. The Bush Administration has been dragging its feet on coughing up the promised money for the September 11, 2001 attack on lower Manhattan. Having pledged $21.5 billion in aid as the bodies were being dug out of the ruins, the White House has dawdled and delayed in coughing up the money. Within the first year less than $5 billion had been handed over, and two years after America was attacked, the US Treasury still has a substantial portion.

Now, California is in need, and this time it isn't its constitution, wacky politics or the celebrity culture that is at fault. Patriotism is a fine value that the White House claims as one of its own, and in this case, it goes hand in hand with humanitarianism -- helping one's fellows.

But where is the action? In the case of New York City, lip-service has been paid, but cash hasn't. One hopes that those currently suffering are not relying on Uncle Sam too much. It seems he has forgotten some of his nephews and nieces.

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