I read a comment recently saying that we shouldn't criticize FEMA because doing so would "[hurt] progressive efforts to get government [to] take back health care and other services being destroyed by private industry." This perspective protects the wrong group. Billions of dollars were allocated to help disaster recovery efforts in WNC for the sake of the state and survivors, not for maintaining FEMA's public image. Not criticizing their response for fear of making them look incompetent is a wild idea. Everyone makes mistakes, sure, but claiming folks can't point them out is ridiculous! It's impossible for me to read that and not wonder if the person suggesting it wants us to cover something up.

The government doesn't need to be protected first before disaster survivors. It needs to protect us. It needs to be there for us. I simply cannot believe that it's our duty to preserve the government over the American people. It exists by us, for us, not the other way around. If the government can outperform private industry legitimately, that's one thing, but needing to pretend it does so in order to protect some nebulous goal is wild.

I know I'm mostly preaching to the choir, and I don't want to harass the original author with this, as they made it pretty clear they're not willing to discuss it any longer. (Which I think is fine, it's Saturday, after all!) It was just striking to see, especially in the wake of the failure inflicted earlier today on survivors sheltering in hotels. I don't care about the government taking back or holding onto any services, I care about the people who trust and rely on them not getting hurt because of it. Hopefully, the American people will collectively gather the temerity these next few years to greedily put our interests and wellbeing before the bureaucracy's. Even if that does hurt progressive efforts.