The litany of the GOP, for years, has been that government is too big, that social programs are bloated, that health care is inefficient and should be privatized.
The GOP has gutted environmental programs, reduced spending on communal safety, and stolen the money in the Federal budget to wage an irresponsible war of choice and support industry and corporations at the expense of the people.
On Monday, Katrina changed the equation.
"Getting government off our backs" has suddenly become a cry of "Where is the government?"
If you bought into the rhetoric of an administration using the government to further its own ends, to the benefit of its sponsors, then wondering where government has gone is a little late in the "game".
The reason we form government is to provide for us all when the normal turns disastrous, when a manageable threat goes out of control. We use government to defend ourselves from the obvious threats to our health, our security and our well-being. Government also helps us create prosperity for many, instead of advantage for a few.
At times we are also forced to create a strong government in order to protect ourselves against enemies.
But government should never be used the way the Bush administration has abused it. They have invented false enemies, WMD-threats, missiles from North Korea and threats to the Homeland, in order to serve their misguided agenda of providing for the rich and their corporate sponsors.
The Bush administration used its power over government to scare us into voting them into power for a second stretch - just consider: the situation in Iraq is a lot more dangerous today than it ever was; Al-Qaeda is voicing more serious threats than ever - yet we do not see any more elevated threat warnings from the Dept. of Homeland Security. The period before the presidential election last year was littered with such warnings...
This could be the end of Conservatism as it is practised in Washington D.C.
Conservatism should mean respect for the environment, for the rights of fellow human beings to lead and expect decent lives, and a willingness to participate in community, both at home and abroad.
Instead, this administration wages wars of choice, spits upon international agreements, creates Gulags outside the U.S., and leaves its own citizens defenseless, while claiming it does the opposite. It even bypasses the will of Congress, in order to place a loose cannon in the U.N., sent there to help Bush wage war against the international community of nations.
The fratboy passing as president in this administration has taken his eye off the ball enough times to be kicked out of the major leagues for good. Yet he keeps getting away with it.
For how long? Has his time of accounting finally arrived? Did he read the Presidential Daily Briefing of Sunday, August 28? Or did he ignore it, as he did the PDB of August 6, 2001?
This administration has practised Vigilante Justice, in contravention of U.S. law, defying the courts, ignoring the Constitution and Civil RIghts and shunting aside international accords and laws.
Why should we be surprised that New Orleans devolves into anarchy, when there is anarchy at the White House?
The policies of this administration are mirrored in the Tragedy of the Gulf States.
The Schism of America is revealed to all today. The Third World Country that underlies the so-called American Dream has been brought to the fore, to the eternal disgrace of the bootstrap philosophy of the right.
"If you're poor, it's your own fault," say the Republicans. And they cut social programs, school budgets, medical care and other activities designed to help the disadvantaged get a decent life. They cut overtime pay. They try and reduce the minimum wage. And by claiming it's the fault of the poor that they are not rich, the Republicans can go on ignoring the conditions that their policies create.
Together with the NRA, the GOP has fought against any attempt to change gun laws that are considered insane anywhere else in the world. The rescue workers, hospital staff and emergency crews in New Orleans are serving as targets to this misguided policy. A mindset that flies in the face of what responsible government is all about.
The GOP has allowed car manufacturers to create a market for small trucks and SUVs that are completely unnecessary to the task of getting people from A-B; three and four ton vehicles transporting people weighing a fraction of that weight, at a cost in energy and pollution that is ridiculous. The GOP's ignorant and malicious energy policies are threatening us all - as they redact the work of scientists trying to warn against the Global Warming threatening to serve up storms worse than Katrina.
"Getting government off our backs!" they shout - while gutting the Treasury and sinking the economy.
Yes, Iraq is disastrous. Katrina is catastrophic. But the greatest threat to the health, welfare and order of the nation sits in the Oval Office, and calls himself "a War President" - while closing his eyes to the reality based community that the people suffering in the Gulf States are forced to live in, as their leader flies overhead, taking a peek from his perch of privilege at their suffering.
"It must be twice as bad on the ground," he says, having had to break off his Guinness Book of World Records attempt at the longest vacation of any sitting president, ever.
Getting government off our backs? No. We want and need a strong and responsible and enlightened government. What we don't need are energy junkies who will lie, connive, cheat, spin and steal from "We, the people."