What a beautiful thing to see FEMA workers, Red Cross volunteers, and hundreds of individuals and businesses joining together to help the victims of Hurricane Harvey.
They deserve all the help they are getting because of one reason, they are human beings in need, period.
I only wish Texas politicians and the millions of voters who support them believed the same thing.
Sadly, tragically, they don’t. Worse, they believe any help they get is not because of the generous spirit of Americans or the good work our government does.
No, they think they deserve it.
That’s what several Texans said in interviews I read, including Carl Tepper, the former GOP chairman for Lubbock County. His view is, “If there’s some help there, if we paid into it and we deserve it, we’ll take it.”
I doubt Texans have paid or will ever pay into FEMA through taxes anything close to the tune of the $125 billion or more the recovery will apparently require.
But as strange as that way of looking at disaster relief is, it pales in comparison to the fact that most Texans don’t believe victims of tragedy outside of Texas deserve help like they think they do.
They supported Texas Senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, along with all but one member of the Texas delegation in the House, when they voted against emergency aid when Hurricane Sandy hit the Northeast in 2012.
Cruz said aid for Sandy victims was “chock-full of pork.”
This way of thinking and behaving isn’t just random, though.
According to Eric McDaniel, an associate professor specializing in politics at the University of Texas, Texas conservatives are determined “to get as much out of the federal government as possible while giving the least.”
Conservative politics used to be better than this, but ideology has taken over the movement and corrupted it with an “us vs. them” attitude.
That is why they continue to try to slash government spending that helps people like disaster victims while supporting more and more tax cuts for the rich.
Of course, now that Harvey has devastated parts of Texas, cutting the FEMA budget as House conservatives and all Texas Republicans have proposed to help pay for Trump’s stupid wall doesn’t seem like such a good idea at the moment.
I can’t help but wonder if that would be the case had Texas not been in Harvey’s path.
Despite the level of hypocrisy Texas politicians and voters are showing at the moment, though, I believe in times of crisis the natural instinct of most people, and certainly most Americans, is to respond by treating others the way they would want to be treated.
That is what we are seeing now in responses to the devastation Harvey has caused, and there really is something “golden” about that ethic we all learned when we were children.
But I guess they don’t teach that in Texas anymore, at least not among conservatives.
linnposts.com 
being a native Texan & a resident of Texas, I resent your blanket assumption that all voters in Texas who support Cruz & Cornyn think & react the same way they do when it comes to helping non-Texans. I’m really surprised at your statements of prejudice and false accusations of ALL Texans!! I thought you were more open-minded than that. The prejudices you show toward Texans is no different than any other orejudices people have of anyone who are different from they are.
Shame on you Dr. Linn, shame on you.
Tom, I agree with Bill’s response to you. I was careful in my article to name “supporters” of politicians like Cruz and Cornyn, and of ideological conservatives. I don’t know where you fit in regard to either, but voters who believe they can support people like Cruz and Corny who put the shaft to people in need, but embrace tax cuts for the rich don’t share in the moral duplicity this represents are fooling themselves. I take you at your word in your objection to their denial of aid to Sandy victims, and I trust you wrote them sharing your moral objections and are doing so again because of their hypocrisy in insisting FEMA aid be directed to Texas at whatever levels necessary in light of their past votes. If so, then I commend you for your stand and certainly believe you are not the kind of Texan I am talking about.
Dr. Linn,
Thank you for responding to my reply.
I detest the current evangelical bigotry invading our political landscape here in my native Texas. I wish we could find a way to rid our State of the Cornyns, the Cruzs ( a native Canadian by the way) the Dan Patricks (a Bostonian by the way) & the Abbotts & every other false prophet that promotes their narrow political agenda. Everyone of them are an embarrassment to me as a Texan & to me as a Christian. Their politics defy all the principles of social justice & human diversity. I wish we could impeach the whole lot of them.
The stand that Cruz made about not supporting victims of Hurricane Sandy is certainly not reflective of the majority of the way most Texans think, believe me.
But what I was reacting to in your recent post was the paragraph that states, “…it pales in comparison to the fact that most Texans don’t believe victims outside of Texas deserve help like they think they do.”
That’s not a a true or correct statement at all.
And to even put “most Texans” in that category is your “pre-judging” I was referring to in my response.
Our mantra in Texas is to be hospitable & helpful to all inspite of what the embarrassing elected politicians in our State say & do. No way to prove it, but I’ll bet after Cruz voted against helping Hurricane Sandy victims, the private donations from Texans to victims of Sandy doubled or even tripled.
Any way, I appreciate most everything you write. I’m certainly one of your biggest fans!! Keep up the good work.
Tom, I think you are exactly right in pointing out the mistake of my generalization about “most” Texans. I would rewrite that sentence if I had it to do over again. I hope other Texans who share your views will grant me a little grace on that one. Thanks.
Jan,
Like millions of Americans, I have seen on TV hundreds of brave people in uniform and volunteers in their own small boats working tirelessly to save lives and give hope to the desperate folks in Texas. I have seen damn few people in suits and ties doing anything more than blowing smoke — as you so nicely detail above.
“Mattress Mike” in Houston (my latest folk hero) lets anyone into his store, where they can rest or sleep on new furniture and mattresses, have clean water and eat a decent meal. His photo should appear next to any explanation of “The Golden Rule”!
Photos of Tepper, Cruz, Cornyn and their ilk should be placed aside the open sewer cesspools across Texas! (But I am being kind) If one dime is spent on that idiotic Trump wall, the good people of Texas should (peacefully) revolt!!
Thank you for once again calling-out the hypocritical Republicans and conservatives who are currently a “plague” on our fine nation.
Tom Anthony,
If you voted for Cruz and Cornyn, you voted for what they stand for. Thus you are culpable in their disgusting words and deeds! J’accuse vous !
Striking how devastation in one’s own home will cause such a reversal in attitudes. But I don’t trust them. And with the distain towards Californians expressed by so many Republicans in congress, I shutter to think how they would respond if we were to experience the dreaded “big one.”
Wilbur, I cannot imagine why anyone could not understand why you don’t trust Congressional Republicans. I think they would just as soon California fall down under its own weight. Thanks.
Tom,
I am glad to see the ultimately positive exchange between you and my good friend Jan. I am especially pleased to see that you denounce the evangelical bigotry in Texas. Trust me, we have it in equal measure here in Virginia!
I apologize for my erroneous assumption that you were like-minded with Cruz and Cornyn.
In my previous comment to you, I showed up as “bblackandnan.” I am Bill Blackwell……….Peace!
Well said, my friend.
Thanks, Bill. Apology accepted.
I think the fact that you & I are linnpost readers
puts it all in perspective. I love his thoughts expressed in his writings. I guess labeling me in the same category with Cruz & Cornyn because I’m a Texan is like labeling all of us in the same category with Trump because we’re all Americans. That just ain’t so, right?
“God will not be mocked.” comes to mind as category 3 Hurricane Irma, east of Cuba in the “gradually warming” Atlantic Ocean, heads west. I think nature, in her infinite patience, is going to humble our entire species over the coming years so severely there will not be an ounce of selfish arrogance left in a single one of us – those who survive!
Bob, one of the great enigmas is why people continue to deny climate change. It makes no sense. The science is conclusive, and the signs are all around the world, yet they refuse to accept reality. To what end? But, as you suggest, nature will have the last say.
“I believe in times of crisis the natural instinct of most people… is to respond by treating others the way they would want to be treated.” The Golden Rule is universal, it’s in most every heart, I think.
Politicians are a shady lot, Texas pols are especially suspect to me. And yet, Texans keep electing them over and over again. I’m looking forward to the day when we elect compassionate politicians. Although I’m getting too old to hold out much hope I’ll ever see the day. Good post, Jan, as usual you remind us that we’re all called to act humanely and with compassion.
Jan, your insights, as usual, are instructive and useful. I was struck by the hypocrisy of the Texas Congressional unit, with the one exception; even more, however, I was gratified by the outpouring of support from so many people and FEMA. Cheerz!
Gene
Thanks, Gene. Good to hear from you. There is much good in America, though conservative Republicans are quite effective in making it seem otherwise.
I don’t know much about the Sandy finances (“pork”). But I do know about the Katrina finances–Mayor Nagen (spelling?) went to prison for all the graft and greed and fraud he did with the federal funds sent there. How many more were on his “payroll” who didn’t get a prison term like he did. So, it happened then during Katrina and was found out; who knows for sure about Sandy until long after when evidence is garnered. Not a good idea to be “certain” of much of anything when we people are not there with the knowledge, facts, evidence one way or another.
The misuse of funds is a different issue than claiming an aid package has “pork.” They are both important, but have nothing to do with one another. The former is about oversight. The latter is about making an unfounded charge to excuse trying to punish a region of the country you don’t want to help in the first place. Also, You don’t seem all that concerned about the possibility of the misuse of funds for Harvey victims. Maybe you do in fact understand that the two are different matters, but want to conflate them in a failed effort to make a bogus point. Not helpful.
Please don’t try to read my mind. Harvey never came up because we are in the midst of it all. Irma too. Nothing to report on either one. I don’t have any access (do you?) to stats on finances given for particular disasters. I am not making any judgements there. My comment had to do with the corruption FOUND AND PROSECUTED because people DO take advantage — they are called “criminals doing criminal behavior”. So if it happened during Katrina, it is rational to be a bit wary for any future disaster funds going out. It is cautionary to check things out, be skeptical sometimes when government funding is involved. Government has “interesting” rules. If you write a grant for $1 Million for a cause, and the government sends you $1.25 Million, you are expected to USE IT ALL AND NOT GIVE ANY BACK! Have to find LEGITIMATE public use, related to the cause it was intended for. This is standard procedure. You can use it for “further prevention of problem happening again.” Don’t believe me–ask around about this.