Drone video of flooding in Central Texas over Memorial Day weekend.
The drought in Texas ended with a wet, thundering bang last weekend, but the political hypocrisy may just be getting started. The Lone Star State is currently ruled by the worst sort of Tea Party Republicans. We brought you Senator hopes-to-be-President of the Confederate-States-of-America Ted Cruz and Louie the-dumbest-man-in-Congress Gohmert just to name a couple. We even elected this clown:
West, TX is represented in Congress by Bill Flores, who is also asking that the government declare the impacted area a federal disaster—and is requesting federal money. [...] Mr. Flores was one of the 67 members of the House of Representatives who voted against the Hurricane Sandy Disaster Relief.
Spending is only big and bad and out of control when it helps people Bill Flores and his ilk don't care about. Case in point, it's now
flooding down in Texas:
This is when Texas nationalists and secessionists really look foolish. With 46 counties now declared disaster areas by Gov. Greg Abbott and no end in sight until summer, Texas welcomes federal officials and disaster relief.
Texas Task Force 1 and soldiers and pilots of the Texas Military Forces — the National Guard units and Texas State Guard — have worked round-the-clock to save motorists in Krum, lift away flood victims in Cleburne and search for the missing in Wimberley. But if anyone needs convincing, this reminds us Texas can’t go it alone.
And why would we want or expect to go it alone? Texans pay income tax and other federal fees just like any other state's residents. Some of our politicians may be bug-fuck crazy—or they may simply be off the chart cynical, it's not clear which is worse. But by and large we are full of kind, big-hearted people. When neighboring states or nearby foreign countries suffer the wrath of nature or the callous nature of man, Texans are often among the first volunteers on the front line rendering aid.
So, when Texas Tea Party Republicans seek to deprive taxpayers in any state of their own money, in some cases money and resources specifically earmarked for disaster relief, maybe it's time for voters of all stripes to re-examine that party's notion about what Americans expect and deserve from their elected representatives.
