Inadequate research and development. Insufficient supplies of medications and vaccines. Insufficient numbers of hospital beds and emergency equipment for the hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of pandemic victims. Will the Bush administration provide the funding for these necessary preparations for the pending emergency? No way. But Bush has another plan:
"Send in the troops!"
Thus Bush's pathological fascination with armed force comes to the fore. Katrina gave us a glimpse of what Bush might have in store for us for the next national emergency. In his speech to the nation from Jackson Square in New Orleans, Bush said: "It is now clear that a challenge on this scale requires greater federal authority and a broader role for the armed forces - the institution of our government most capable of massive logistical operations on a moment's notice." And at a White House press conference on October 4, Bush reflected: If we had an outbreak [of avian flu] somewhere in the United States, do we not then quarantine that part of the country? And how do you, then enforce a quarantine? ... And who best to be able to effect a quarantine? ... One option is the use of a military that's able to plan and move."
"Congress may already be helping Bush's wish become a reality. The Senate Armed Services Committee is reportedly considering proposals to increase the military's role in natural disasters by creating National Guard units specializing in disaster response--and clearing the way for active troops to engage in law enforcement activities on U.S. soil, something that's currently illegal.
"Congressional aides recently told U.S. News and World Report that some senators are also considering introducing legislation that would allow the Feds, in "extreme circumstances," to take command of the National Guard without first getting approval from a governor."
As the Katrina disaster abundantly demonstrated, George Bush presides over a government that does not believe in government - except, of course, as a device for gathering tax revenues from the masses and redistributing it to defense contractors and campaign contributors, and also for keeping dissenting citizens under surveillance and control. Otherwise, whatever the government attempts to do, we are told by the right-wing think-tank gurus, private individuals, private property, and "the free market" will always do better.
The regressive right and its captive media have been pounding these doctrines of privatism and market absolutism into our heads since the heyday of Ayn Rand and the founding of Bill Buckley's National Review, fifty years ago - doctrines devoid of evidence and sound argument, contrary to both practical experience and the historical record, and "proven" by little more than constant repetition by right-wing propagandists.
More and more of our fellow citizens have been persuaded to believe this nonsense and will continue to do so, until, during some emergency, they desperately need the assistance of trained professional "public servants" employed by the government, with well thought-out procedures in place. And where is the government today when we are in desperate need of its emergency services? Perhaps "drowned in a bathtub" somewhere.
Tough luck, folks! This is George Bush's "ownership society," and you're on your own.
Copyright 2005 by Ernest Partridge
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
