Posted on 10/30/2012 6:11:23 AM PDT by Zakeet
Most Americans have never heard of the National Response Coordination Center, but they’re lucky it exists on days of lethal winds and flood tides. The center is the war room of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, where officials gather to decide where rescuers should go, where drinking water should be shipped, and how to assist hospitals that have to evacuate.
Disaster coordination is one of the most vital functions of “big government,” which is why Mitt Romney wants to eliminate it. At a Republican primary debate last year, Mr. Romney was asked whether emergency management was a function that should be returned to the states. He not only agreed, he went further.
“Absolutely,” he said. “Every time you have an occasion to take something from the federal government and send it back to the states, that’s the right direction. And if you can go even further and send it back to the private sector, that’s even better.” Mr. Romney not only believes that states acting independently can handle the response to a vast East Coast storm better than Washington, but that profit-making companies can do an even better job. He said it was “immoral” for the federal government to do all these things if it means increasing the debt.
It’s an absurd notion, but it’s fully in line with decades of Republican resistance to federal emergency planning.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Waiting for the UN to take up a collection around the world to help poor little us.
“... And that is why I have instituted a new organization to deal with weather disasters. They will be as as large, well organized and trained as the military, and they will be under Presidential authority only. Because they will be dealing with weather events I am calling them my Storm Troopers.”
I think people who prepared for disaster are going to be better off than those sitting on their hands waiting for big daddy government to show up.
I am sure they considered those who prepared and bought extra food to be possible domestic terrorists.
This whole “collective” thing turns my stomach. When people choose to live in a flood plain, on a beach, on a fault line, beneath a volcano, or anywhere it gets too hot or too cold, too dry or too wet then it is their choice. They need to plan for it. They need to pay for it.
I am not against charity, but I am against my tax dollars being washed through bureaucrats’ hands in DC only to be inefficiently delivered to people who long ago made the decision to rely federal relief instead of planning and taking responsibility for their own lives and property.
I have worked with FEMA in my area and they have a large amount of equipment standing by, but it is hardly ever used. I think a fair amount of money could be saved by paring down the number of districts, leveraging off National Guard capabilities, and prepositioning gear to respond to certain types of emergencies. Especially when it comes to storms we usually have several days to get ready.
The usual reflexive liberal argument: there is no problem Government cannot fix, and if you disagree you are an OGRE. Next Tuesday the American people (or at least 53% of them) won’t buy it.
Hafta admit, they're absolutely right. That big government sure is helping out!
FEMA's role is very secondary. It mostly write checks after the fact to reimburse for unusually high costs, which is why the designation of so many relatively trivial events as "federal disasters" is a political slush fund operation.
Massive fires in Texas....Sorry bout yer luck. - BHO
Tornadoes and floods in the midwest... Too bad, so sad.- BHO
A flood in a black city...Credit cards, living expenses, free housing, and support that lasts for years on end.
National Response Coordination Center
I think the name itself reveals a philosophy that has worked for the United States for centuries: States working together. You don't need a huge central body, with large budgets, to co-ordinate disaster response. You don't need centralized direct response, you need to let the States combine forces under leadership. Not unlike the military model we operate under.
State response doesn't work, NYT? While a Boy Scout during the Cold War years (in your back yard, by the way), I remember the practice drills for response against nuclear attack -- it was modeled on central information dissemination but distributed, local action. England showed how well such a tiered system worked during World War II German bombing. Individuals need to be prepared, neighborhoods need to be prepared, towns need to be prepared, counties need to be prepared, States need to be prepared.
Want to talk about the "cash-strapped States"? Why do you think they are strapped for cash? Four words: Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac. Couple that with the disaster that was the Community Reinvestment Program, aka "Robin Hood House Act", and you see the folly of central control. Complain of guns and no butter? The Progressives had two years to fix that problem without any help from the Conservatives -- control of all three houses of Federal government: House, Senate, White House. And what happened? Nothing much.
Now, if the nation's capitol was in Topeka KS it might, just might be in a better position to know what's going on, to have its pulse on the finger oft he nation. But it's not.
FEMA doesn't need to "federalize" local first responders, or the States' National Guards. FEMA needs to take in reports from the field and help with national-level mobilization of relief aide. That's a key word, "help". Not "dictate".
The Feds, by sucking up all the tax money, bankrupts the States, the Counties, the Towns, the Villages. Ask any fireman how he would like having orders from Washington about how to fight fire down the street. Yes, natural disasters like Sandy are larger, yes they cross State lines, but the response starts much further down the food chain. Individuals taking responsibility for their lives, safety, and well-being. Neighbors helping neighbors. Towns helping towns. Counties helping counties.
And ordinary people pitching in. Ever volunteer time filling and placing sandbags to fight a flood in the next state over? Until you can say "yes", I suggest you STFU, NYT editors.
My little village in the sticks go without lots of times and we expect and prepare for it.
Dear ny slimes... die... go bankrupt... starve... whither away... p*$$ off etc etc etc etc etc.
LLS
All the white folks are heading to the stadium and yelling, “ save me, save me”....ooops, sorry. That was New Orleans.
I still feel sorry for those who wait until the shelves are bare to go get ready though. That has got to make their stomach churn to see an empty grocery store. Probably seems unnatural to them, a real shock.
In fact..some of the biggest of “big” governments have been responsible for 100’s of millions of deaths in the 20th century.
Correction: Big storm requires state governments to be in charge with federal support at the ready.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.