I saw Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey lambasting the House of Representatives for not voting on a measure to pass a $60 Billion, pork-laden, "relief package" for the victims of Hurricane Sandy.
$60 BILLION.
On September 8th, 1900, a massive hurricane crashed into Galveston, TX. It claimed the lives of between 8,000-12,000 people (reports differ, but most agree on this range). It was the deadliest natural disaster in United States history.
This was before FEMA. This was before we were $16.4 Trillion in debt.
How did Galveston rebuild? The same way that Americans used to recover from tragedy: through tenacity and hard work. They picked themselves up from their bootstraps and rebuilt their city, erecting a seawall that, at the time, was a marvel of engineering.
During World War II, the beautiful city of Dresden, Germany was firebombed as part of an Allied Campaign to break the back of the Nazi Regime. One of the most notable casualties was the Frauenkirche, a landmark Lutheran Church in Dresden reduced to rubble. When the bombers were done, the citizens of Dresden began to collect bricks. Brick by brick, they rebuilt the church. Men, women, and children ventured out of shelter, dusted themselves off, buried their dead... and began collecting bricks.
Now, in New York and New Jersey, the epicenters of Blue State America, the victims don't venture out. They don't gather bricks. They demand that their government come in and fix it. Make it all better. Build them a new house. Pay for repairs.
See... when you vote for promises, sometimes you get disappointed when those promises don't materialize. When you become dependent on government for more and more in your daily life, you don't go collect bricks when tragedy hits. You want someone to collect bricks for you.
Look, I don't want you to get the wrong idea. I feel compassion for the victims of Hurricane Sandy. I do. I mourn the family members they lost, I am saddened by the damage that was done, the dreams and investments that were shattered. I am angered that two months later, some places still have no electricity or water. I am further angered that after the Galveston disaster more than eleven decades earlier, water was restored just four days later. But what I reserve my deepest compassion for, what I mourn more than anything else, is the death of the American Spirit. I mourn the demise of the can-do attitude, the "I can do this" work ethic. I will pray for those families.
Elections have consequences. Can somebody help me pick up the bricks? We need to rebuild the Old America.
Great post.
ReplyDeleteMy father was in the 1st Cavalry Division, 12th Regiment, Headquarters Squadron....1930 through 1933...stationed at Fort Brown, in Brownsville, Texas. That year there were four tropical involvments, including one horrific storm. In the aftermath, the Rio Grande ran 100 miles wide at the mouth, and the disturbance and disorder was total. The Mexican Cavalry and the American Cavalry horses...the ones who had survived...had mixed up on various "islands". Both armies went about recollecting the horses and mules. Many bore the same markings because of shared purveyours. They separated them by using the different bugle calls. By that manner each Army recovered about 98% of their mounts.
ReplyDeleteAlso...like Galvez Town....there was no FEMA...no posturing politicians...just 7,000 - 12,000 dead people and total destruction. It is hard for people to realise that Galveston had the first or second largest Roman Catholic, Episcopal, Lutheran, and Methodist Churches in Texas at the time. Over 90 percent of the city was totally gone. There were 30 X 40 inch members, 30 to 60 feet long found 20 miles from Galveston. Locomotives were carried off and found a year later. But, by the third day Negroes, Mexicans, Anglos, foreign sailors, prostitutes, doctors, teachers, labourers, etc. were out burying the dead, caring for the injured, cleaning up and separating chaff from leavings that could be used in the reconstruction. Bartenders and preachers, garbagemen and city councilmen, all working side by side. Galveston was a rough town...still has a rough edge to it....but, by God, the Samaritan Rule was followed and we didn't ask then or in Brownsville, for some abominable Messianic Maniac to come and pronounce that things could start back to normal and that he would make sure every body got everything they needed. We have become a wanton race of people....waiting for Father O'bamaham to "give" us back our normalcy. I spit on the shoes of Christie and Cuomo. I lament the people lining up to become contestants in the "New Queen for a Day" program. I expected it fromNew Orleans...but the sociological cancer spreads even to those who used to know how to buckle down and do, instead of whine.
Unrepentant Texan;
DeleteWe are trying to email you to ask for permission to aggregate your blog to our blog list. We are found at privatouring.blogspot.com and have a somewhat contrarian, extremely conservative, and somewhat Texas Nationalist orientation. We are honourably discharged, United States Army, drafted in 1968 after completing university studies.
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ReplyDeleteYou need to make a couple of entries every week. Some of my readers are very interested in what you are saying and how you say it, but that you spend more time on facebook. You need to spread into this smaller but perhaps more interested/interesting audience. Your lengthier rhetorical development is actually quite high level, and you need to express and expose your thoughts, both on you blog and allow the readers of about 10 other blogs to take advantage of your insights.
El Gringo Viejo