Irene and US

We faced Hurricane Irene as one country. I don’t remember thinking, well the important thing is that Pennsylvania wasn’t hit that hard … screw New Jersey. We faced it as one country, and we will clean up and recover together as one country. That is the way it should be. We are, after all, one country. We are more than just an assemblage of states, and have been since we abandoned the Articles of Confederation for the Constitution. If Ron Paul and Rick Perry really want Texas to be able to solve its own problems on its own, they should argue for refusing every federal dollar offered and move for secession. The idea that the solution to all of our problems is to erase hundreds of years of American history and start taking apart the federal government is laughable. The idea that one state can, by itself, solve problems like immigration, a failing infrastructure, and an underperforming education system is equally laughable. The idea that people are better off with less government is one that has not an iota of real evidentiary support. We are lucky to be one large country with a stable and capable government. We are lucky to be free of sweat shops, child labor, segregation, back alley abortions, rampant kidnappings, lawlessness, warlords, and widespread uncertainty in the wake of natural disasters. If you really believe that this is a great country, how can you deny that our government is part of what makes us great? If you believe this is a great country, how can you attack the very thing that makes us one country? If you have common sense and any interest at all in logic, reason, or facts … particularly in the wake of Irene … how can you take people like Ron Paul seriously?