The Failure Of The US Government

Before you get all up in arms without reading this, let me tell you upfront that this is not about Left vs Right or Democrat vs Republican. This is about the general failure overall that needs to be corrected now.

The United States has become a country divided far too long. Turning people against each other over issues that really don't matter while clouding over things that are really important has led to the mess we have now.

It is great the people can reach out to others in time of emergencies. US citizens are reknown for this. We will go to great lengths to help others in need. The problem is where was the government when all this was happening? People, the average citizen, can only do and give so much.

Forget about what side you were on over the war in Iraq for the moment. Consider this -- the National Guard has a duty to serve the country where the need is greatest. They were never meant to do the heavy duty fighting in lands overseas, but to defend our actual shorelines. If trouble were to happen on US soil, they were the ones to fight those battles. Instead, they were far away from home. They were dying off by sensless attacks. And with them went a lot of the helicopters and emergency vehicles which could have been used in this recent emergency. This tragedy has exposed a dangerous loophole in US security.

What if another 911 happened at the time of Katrina? I am thankful it didn't happen, but I cannot rest too comfortably in the fact that our government's emergency response, FEMA, could barely cope with the hurricane and our National Guard has mostly been overseas. A terrorist could have easily taken advantage of that bad situation and made things much worse because we had no way of coping with anything more. We can barely handle it now. If we are attacked any time soon, how would we cope?

What is disturbing is reports of how average citizen volunteers were turned away from going to New Orleans to help in the rescue efforts. How trucks of water from Wal-Mart were also turned away. How ships carrying extra disel feul were turned away. How a group of college students had to fake media credentials to get into the area to save people and drove into town. All this because FEMA would not let anyone without a press pass into the area. How is it the media could come and go, but the buses were not allowed in to take people out quicker?

While the people have been great in dealing with the situation as best they can, the government has not. Before another crisis develops, I hope they can get their act together. There will be more hurricanes and other natural disasters that will reek havoc on the land. If we cannot get past this one, how will we deal with the next one? And of course, what if there is a security breech during this time?

It is time to put partisan issues aside and work to fix the broken system.

Church of UCPFUL