I want to thank deeply a lot of people, some of whom I know and others of whom I’ll never see. I live in the foothills of the LaSal Mountains in Southeastern Utah. A bit over a week ago, lightning started a wildfire nearby. I learned something very valuable.
Because I had a key to a locked gate and knew a bit about local water resources, I went to the fire site. When I got there, the Castle Valley Volunteer Fire Department, Grand County Search & Rescue, Grand County Sheriffs Department, local BLM and local Forest Service people were already present and beginning to deal with an ugly situation. I knew or recognized over half the people fighting the fire at that point. As day turned to evening and the fire roared up the mountain, more personnel, equipment, and support services started arriving from farther away.
By the next morning, crews and specialized equipment were here from neighboring states and I recognized far fewer of the faces. Hot Shot and helitac teams were on the ground. Firebombers, helicopters, and tactical control aircraft were all over the sky. Today, the fire is under control and I’m comfortable enough with my situation that I’ve unpacked my irreplaceables from my truck where I had packed them when the fire started.
Thanks to everyone, from the local first responders to those from out of state, to those behind the scenes supporting the front line men and women, thanks for doing a magnificent job.
Seeing how in a few hours the efforts of volunteers and local agencies were augmented by state and national firefighters was a profound Constitutional lesson for me. It is an example of what We the People joined together to do: "provide for the common defense" and "promote the general welfare".
The fight against the fire began with local volunteers and local agencies. As the scope of the fire became clear, state and national government resources began to arrive.
I have a question for the reflexively anti-tax, drown-the-government-in-a-bathtub glibertarians: after you’ve succeeded in drowning the government and the fire is roaring down on your home, who are you gonna call? Do you think Halliburton or Blackwater will rent you highly trained crews with specialized equipment and fleets of firebombers at a price you can afford? Are you prepared to put it on your MasterCard or will you have to wait until the check clears? Having drowned the government, who’s going to pull your free-market-solves-everything ass out of the fire?
This in no way absolves individuals of responsibility and initiative. I choose to live in a remote location where fire, medical, or police emergency services are at least an hour away. I happily accept the risks and take responsibility to be as prepared as I can be, but I also take comfort and pride in knowing that We the People, banded into a polity that ranges from local to continental in scale, can do things collectively that we cannot do as individuals or as units in the so-called free market.
One of the sad legacies of 30 years of Republican domination of the national discourse is the way the mantra "Government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem" has taken root. Clearly, there are things that government at its various levels cannot or should not do. Equally clearly, there are things government, We the People, can and must do.
The Founders established our Constitution to, among other things, "provide for the common defense [and] promote the general welfare." To provide for the common defense, not provide for the defense industry; promote the general welfare, not promote billionaire welfare.
An excellent way to build on this and similar Constitutional lessons is to vote. Vote and let We the People be heard. In recent days I’ve seen what We the People can accomplish when we gather together to help and protect each other. What I saw is much more attractive and satisfying than a bathtub full of drowned government.