Texas Liberal

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Texas Wildfires—Rick Perry Puts Small Government Ideology Over The Safety And Well-Being Of Everyday Texans

There are wildfires taking place in Texas. There have been many wildfires in Texas in 2011 due to drought and extreme heat.

Many people have had to leave their homes in this most recent round of fires.

Here is a Texas Forest Service map of the fires.

Governor Rick Perry has taken time off from the Presidential campaign trail to visit Texas and to appear to be doing something about the fires.

Here is a report on fires in the Houston area from the Houston Chronicle.

While many brave Texans are working hard to put out the blazes, in some cases the resources do not exist to fight the fires. In other cases federal resources are being used to fight the fires.

And yet Rick Perry has said so many times that the federal government should leave Texas alone.

Despite the important role of the Texas Forest Service in addressing wildfires, this agency was subject to severe cuts in the most recent session of the Republican led Texas legislature.

Governor Perry puts his extreme small-government ideology over the safety and well-being of the people of Texas.

Where are the Tea Party firefighting teams to help put out the fires?

If the choice for President in 2012 is between Rick Perry and Barack Obama, folks are going to have a clear choice to make. I’m confident that people will reject Rick Perry as an extremist.

You may or may not agree with the liberal beliefs I advance on this blog.

In any case, you can use this blog post and additional information you look up on your own about these Texas wildfires, to help shape your views about Rick Perry as he runs for President.

The work of freedom and democracy is up to each of us. Every person has the capacity to understand the most complex issues.

I encourage people to look at the full Rick Perry record and to make the call as 2012 approaches.

September 6, 2011 - Posted by | Uncategorized | , , ,

15 Comments »

  1. Hey, maybe God is back from his summer retreat up north and may be better able to hear our prayers for rain. Let’s have another pray in at the Astrodome.

    May not get any better results but it doesn’t hurt Perry’s standing with the religious right.

    Comment by lbwoodgate | September 6, 2011

  2. I think that as the American people get to know Rick Perry better, they will have the same opinion of him that Texans have…

    But that still doesn’t answer the quesiton of why God is so mad at Texas.

    Comment by Katydidknot | September 6, 2011

  3. I really like your perspective – on government and the Tea Partiers.
    (former Houstonian)

    Comment by rogueprimate | September 6, 2011

  4. ibwood—I think we are being punished for harsh treatment of the poor.

    katy—See above.

    rougueprimate–Kind of you to say. Please visit the blog again.

    Comment by Neil Aquino | September 7, 2011

  5. I stumbled onto this blog….wow…harsh critics seem to huddle together and compliment one another on their common, slanted opinions. Rick Perry came home to give encouragement to the folks here in Texas who have lived here for generations, worked hard and now have lost most of their possessions. You say he did it to “appear” to be doing something about the fires – maybe like Obama “appears” to be doing something about the economy. One thing is for certain, you will not see Texans standing among the rubble of their life waving white flags and waiting for the government to come rescue them. They are already rolling up their sleeves and helping their neighbors protect their homes or give them shelter if they have already lost it. If in two weeks you do see someone on TV crying that the government hasn’t brought them transportation to leave or food or water or rebuilt their home, I will assure you it will be one of your fellow “Texas Liberals”. Texas made cuts to the Forest Service to balance its budget instead of simply printing more money or taking out a loan from the Chinese. Most of the rural areas of Texas depend on the Volunteer Fire Department, which is community members giving of themselves freely to protect others and is supported strongly by the community. You ask where the Tea Party Members are to help put the fires out? Why don’t you take this time sir to go to the front line of the fires and meet a true TEA (taxed enough already) Party member. He is the guy staring down flames towering 1600 feet in the air. You may not know that the TEA party is a party of the people who believe government should exist to PROTECT its people – all of its people (even if they didn’t vote for them). Rick Perry has asked the President to do that several times and has been denied several times. Just recently a small portion of aid has been released to help PROTECT the state and Perry is working to get more. Liberalism is founded in equality. Your belief that it is a role for the government to make life more fair helps me to understand why liberals are so misguided. Read the constitution and see where the word FAIR shows up? It provides for the welfare of the people, not to provide WELFARE to the people. The government’s role should be to provide defense and insure justice, which I believe is equality for everyone – so we are not totally at different ends of the spectrum on that point. Texas is a great state, full of great people. We do cling to God, who is a fair and righteous God (why would anyone criticize that by the way) and our guns – which if you read the Bill of Rights (the part of the Constitution that provides for the equality you call for) the right to bear arms is in there too. You comment that God is punishing us for the harsh treatment of the poor (which maybe you should clarify that point with me) then why are there hurricanes, tornadoes and earthquakes in the east? I guess He is mad at the welfare programs over there? I would encourage you to get out to the fire relief and meet these God fearing, gun toting, radical TEA party extremist you seem to criticize regularly. You may stumble onto the truth away from the rhetoric.

    Comment by Mike | September 7, 2011

  6. Mike–Thanks for your comment. Rick Perry cut the resources needed to fight fires and has asked the federal government to assit with fighting these fires. This course of action is not consistent with either prudent self-reliance or with asking Washington to stay out of the affairs of the states.

    Government has a role in helping making sure that people have a fair shot in life. I’m confident that if you were to read this blog on a regular basis you would see that I stress to a great degree the need for people to fight for themselves and not to rely on others. This still allows plenty of room for government to provide decent schools, and help people with college grants like the Pell Grant programs, and to help keep the air and water clean and a number of other functions.

    In terms of prayer, it was Governor Perry who asked for prayer to end the drought. I don’t mock people who value prayer in life. I’m not aware of a Governor in a state impacted by Hurricane Irene who publicly called for prayer to address the hurricane. If you are an elected official who makes prayer a central point of how you will address big public problems, then you have to be open to what it means when those prayers fail to provide the hoped for result. Governor Perry called for prayer to end the drought. What we have had since this call is heat, fires and more drought. I think that can fairly lead to questions based on the Governor’s premise in calling for the prayers.

    Comment by Neil Aquino | September 7, 2011

  7. I know its easy for everyone to call Perry a hypocrite for asking the Fed to stay out of state affairs and then pleading with them to give his state help in fighting this disaster, but come on, really? Rick Perry wants to keep BIG GOVERNMENT from interfering with our daily lives. These fires are not part of anybody’s daily life and cannot be viewed at in that light. If the entire IRAQ army came stomping across the Texas/Mexico border, would he be considered a hypocrite for calling on more than just the Texas National Guard? This is one of the few states in this nation to be fighting sternly against the recession and providing job growth along the way. Shouldn’t somebody be looking at the way the lack of government regulation has opened up commerce here? Just because we don’t want Uncle Sam standing on our feet doesn’t mean we want out from under his umbrella.

    I have read a bit of your blog and all the talk of treasonous succession makes me want to add – if Texas was independent of the US, we may be able to afford providing our Forestry Service ample equipment and man power to fight this thing on our own. But as it stands, the government cashed my last check to cover the federal taxes I owed and I believe it continues to pull money out of my daily salary. If its not going to help defend my state then shouldn’t I and every Texan for that matter get reimbursed?

    Just because you WANT the government to make it FAIR for everyone, doesn’t make fairness a role of the government. I believe in equal rights more than most, but when the pursuit of that creates more RACIST actions (affirmative action / fairness doctrine) it pulls us all back. A woman gets promoted beyond a man because she simply lacked a chromosome, or a man is placed in a job solely based on the color of his skin or his ethnicity and some call it just. Some call it reverse racism, but its just racist – plain and simple. It has nothing to do with the content of one’s character…it’s a quota game that the government put in place to make things “FAIR”.

    As far as Perry standing up and asking for us to pray, I can only commend him. I know you are from the north and are seemingly proud of that, but I am proud of the south and more proud of this state. The fact is prayer has seen us through more hurricanes and tornadoes than the east can imagine. Today prayer and God are being wiped from our history and its a shame. The Lord we worship helped our founding fathers create this Christian nation. Now so many people, like Liberals, want to change it so God is erased from it all. You will never succeed in erasing others beliefs entirely, but you and your friends may help others in replacing what is here now. How about Allah and his followers? I think they are gun-toters too though.

    I don’t believe Perry is sitting in a Baptist Church somewhere praying until blood pours from his brow – so don’t portray it as his central point of addressing this disaster. He is fighting with government bureaucracy (political pissing match really) because he stood up to Obama. And now Obama is making him pay for it. Although, it is the central basis for government existence to protect this nation from everything – he is using our moment of crisis as tool for payback. Who is more the man really? The one who can swallow his pride and ask for a helping hand, or the one that refuses it to assert his power? As Perry continues this fight with our President he has deployed every possible asset in his control, even the task force we sent to NY after 9/11 and New Orleans after Katrina. I wonder why would expect anything from anyone?

    I will not debate you on his Faith, but a man who can stand behind it and use it to calm hundreds of thousands of people should not be made a mockery of. You can relax in your mind and feel smug about the fact that God has not answered the prayers from Texas that were sent His way. But like my mom has always told me, He has answered. He just said no, or not just yet. Sometimes we have to learn a lesson before given our release from the struggle. I hope you can see through your own prejudices to learn something as well.

    Welcome to Texas by the way.

    Comment by Mike | September 7, 2011

  8. I’m not aware of a Governor in a state impacted by Hurricane Irene who publicly called for prayer to address the hurricane.

    I am.

    “Get your medicines ready. Take your insurance documents, and have a plan to get out if you need to. Treat this seriously, but then pray real hard that North Carolina will be fine.” -Gov. Bev Perdue (D-N.C.), 8/24/11

    “We expect there to be homes in areas cut off because of flooding and power outages throughout the state. We hope for minimal damage to homes, and we pray for no loss of life.” -Gov. Jack Markell (D-Del.), 8/27/11

    “We have lost five New Yorkers and our hearts and prayers go with those families.” -Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-N.Y.), 8/28/11

    Comment by Matt Bramanti | September 8, 2011

  9. Mike–Welcome to Texas yourself. Texas is a state in our federal union. Though I’m not certain you’ve accepted this central fact about our identity as Texans. While you rationalize disloyal talk about seccession, many of us are glad to be part of a Union of 50 states–south, north, west and east–that was forged in our Revolutionary War and in our Civil War.

    You seem to buy into a lie that liberals want to stop people from praying. What many liberals don’t want–I can’t speak for all as I am just one person—is something to be forced on them. This would seem to me to be an argument that advocates of small government would support. Pray anywhere you want. If you and I were having dinner in my home you could pray at my table. More power to you.I might well need your prayers. Just don’t tell me that our nation is defined by the way that you choose to pray.

    Matt–I knew you’d look that up. I figured doing so would keep you out of bigger mischief for a few minutes. All I can say is that I’m not much more inclined to think that a Just God would look much more kindly on any of those places than He would on Texas. The other thing is that the governors you mention don’t attend right-wing prayer rallies that could easily be seen to boost one faith over another. Governor Perry offers a world view that says prayer will solve our drought. This view–for whatever reason–has been proven wrong.

    Comment by Neil Aquino | September 8, 2011

  10. Neil- Thanks for the history lesson. A little unnecessary but you kept it nice and succinct. So that you know, I am aware and very proud of our status and how we came to be a Republic first and then annexed into the union a decade later. Maybe deeper historical research will help you understand who we really are.

    You say Liberals don’t want anything forced on them…we Conservatives feel the exact same way! Secession talk began because the federal government was forcing us to do things that it had no right or power to do.

    When exactly was the last time you were forced into a church or a prayer? I believe the separation of Church and State will continue to keep that from happening. But before your heart races and your pulse quickens to give a pocket retort about keeping those things completely separate based on our Constitution, I would like to clarify a point. The Constitution insures no state or federal agency can force a religion on people, but it doesn’t mean these agencies have to be devoid of religion entirely. It should be considered as the Separation of State from Church instead. We don’t have to take the 10 Commandments or the Bible from our courts and prayer from our schools to make things equal for those of you who don’t believe. These things shaped our history and still guide this nation today. Whether you like it or not, this country, and everything good in it, is certainly defined by laws that are based in Christianity.

    Any comments on the other items in our discussion, or are you picking and choosing your battles lie the one at San Jacinto in 1836?

    Comment by Mike | September 8, 2011

  11. Neil, your second graf is interesting and quite revealing. You say that “liberals” don’t want “something to be forced on them.”

    A few sentences later you demand that Mike refrain from speech you don’t agree with. Your demand isn’t merely that he refrain from imposing his religion through law, it goes much further — “don’t tell me.”

    Comment by Matt Bramanti | September 9, 2011

  12. Mike—People can pray anytime and anyplace they want. They can take a Bible to public school and read at lunch or in the schoolyard. Public employees can read a Bible or a book of any religion at lunch. Nobody is stopping anybody from practicing their religion. I would object to a publicly financed pronouncement of athesim as much as publicly financed support of religion. The absence of the ten commandments in a public building does not restrict your beliefs anymore than the absuce of a Koran on display in a public building restricts Muslims from any beliefs they might have.

    Matt—I post Mike’s comments on my blog even though he disagrees with me and I have responded to his comments. I’m letting him tell me anything he wants to tell me.

    Comment by Neil Aquino | September 11, 2011

  13. Neil,
    You say the absence of the ten commandments does not restrict my beliefs, but the presence doesn’t obstruct yours either. Why must these things be revoked so your beliefs can be imposed? They are there for a reason and that is this nation’s law of liberty and “fairness” are based on them. These things should be seen as historical reference for our children and their children to understand how this nation was formed and what has made us so great. Don’t you find it interesting that at the same time liberals take control and gain power by enforcing their beliefs, the nation just gets weaker and weaker?

    Comment by Mike | September 12, 2011

  14. […] what’s REAL funny is how it contradicts his posture as a small government Republican.  Except when he’s […]

    Pingback by Because Lambasting the Tea Party Debate is What You Expect From a Cryptojournalist « Rhyme and Reasonable | September 14, 2011


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