Dear People of Kentucky

Dear People of Kentucky:

Everyone feels horrible about what you are going through. What decent human being wouldn’t? The recent tornado has wrecked your homes, your businesses, and your lives – in some cases, ending them. One can only hope that you will be able to recover from this catastrophe – and recover soon.

One can also hope that part of that recovery will be your recovering your senses. You are, after all, the people who have regularly complained about too much government, about how you are over-taxed, and how the federal government in particular is just a bunch of worthless bureaucrats who serve no useful purpose. Big government, to you, is the enemy. You vote Republican because they say what you think (or what they tell you to think). Well, think about this. Who are you looking to now? Who will save you from your calamitous condition? You will not survive without big government.

So, after FEMA and the Corps of Engineers and HUD and the horde of other agencies run to your rescue, will you still feel the same way about the government? Will you still laugh derisively at that old sarcastic Ronald Reagan line, “I’m from the government and I’m here to help you?” This time, Kentuckians, they are here to help you. Are you going to turn them away?

And what about those eminently destructive U.S. Senators you have graced us with?  Will you continue to vest Mitch McConnell with the power to undermine our political system for his own selfish motives? That same Mitch McConnell who will do away with the Affordable Care Act as soon as he can because the dreaded federal government shouldn’t be allowed to help us when we’re sick? The same Mitch McConnell who desperately wants a balanced budget, an economic policy that, had it been in place now, would have robbed the federal government of the resources necessary to dig you out of your misery.

Oh, yeah, and then there’s your other guy – Rand Paul. Now, there’s a beauty that you foisted on us. Even in his sleep he mumbles about how the federal government should be limited, how taxes should be low, how spending should be cut, and how the federal budget should be balanced. If he got his way, how much federal help would be saving you now?

Look over the remnants of what used to be your regular life. When you do, think about how and why that life is being rebuilt. And then think about how and why you should rebuild your political life. You must all have watched the Wizard of Oz. The Tornado in that story thrust Dorothy into an entirely new way of looking at the world. May your tornado have the same effect on you