Ignore, Then Over Re-act – Badly

Limited government is the mantra of those who think the government is always the problem and never the solution. They are consistently late when government action becomes necessary. When forced to act, they overreact. And they are committed by their philosophy to doing a poor job.

This pattern is clear in the three current and most newsworthy events of the week: hurricane Gustav and the Republican convention, the choice of Sarah Palin as the Republican vice presidential candidate and, always current, the ongoing fight against terrorism and the war in Iraq.

Gustav is, to the Republicans, a most unwanted reminder that Katrina was a natural disaster man-made by limited government into a national calamity and disgrace. First, it was the failure to invest in infrastructure that led the federal flood protection levees to fail in some 50 spots and flood 80 percent of the city.

The city of New Orleans still has not seen an accounting or clean up that responds to the real needs of the people. The people in charge can't turn to or blame the government when it is the problem?

The warnings in regard to New Orleans’ vulnerability to hurricanes had been stated any number of times. In fact, the failure of its levees had been identified by Clinton’s FEMA as one of the three most likely natural disasters threatening the US.

Yet, when Katrina arrived, Bush’s FEMA was unprepared to do anything. Those limited government people, like Grover Norquist the anti-tax advocate who has said he wants to drown government in the bathtub, drowned New Orleans in Katrina.

Actually God may have been smiling on McCain. Shutting down the convention because of the hurricane turned out to be a political opportunity. McCain seized it, not so much to help the afflicted as to gain political advantage.

It wasn't planned that way. James Dobson of Focus on the Family prayed that God would send a downpour to flood out Obama's acceptance speech. It seems God did not take kindly to that prayer and instead sent a hurricane that disrupted Mr. McCain's convention.

Now when Gustav threatens like Katrina, the government-haters over react politically. John McCain assumed a presidential-like attitude and tried to assure us that this time his personal concern would make the response different.

Senator McCain shut down the convention for a day to demonstrate that he and his friends will not again be seen partying while New Orleans drowns. It was billed, of course, as a solicitous and heartfelt concern for the people of the Gulf Coast and as McCain and Republicans putting the country first and politics second.

In fact, the talk of canceling the convention was overreaction. It was a clear attempt to get past those pictures of McCain and Bush cutting a birthday cake at the height of Katrina.

On the more practical side, McCain was able to diminish the presence of the very unpopular President Bush and Vice President Cheney on the convention agenda. This would conveniently deny the Democrats ammunition for their campaign message of "four more years of McSame.”

And John McCain chose Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate. The small government ideologues are again behind the curve. The Democrats had Geraldine Ferraro as a vice presidential candidate 25 years ago. The Republicans come late and think it is a beauty pageant.

The Republicans have a full roster of competent women who could have been chosen, even if a little late. Instead Senator McCain, who is 72 years old, reached for an untested, short-time Governor of a marginal state with no experience on the national much less the international scene. She was chosen, not because she could step into the presidency, but because she is expected to energize the social conservatives and bolster his maverick image.

Are they really going to try to put Sarah Palin in a class with Hillary Clinton?

This is an under reaction to the perceived need for a woman on the ticket. His choice was the impulsive action of a gambler who does not take government responsibilities seriously.

The most dangerous case of this irresponsibility and overreaction pattern is, of course, the so-called war on terror and the Iraq war. The outgoing Clinton administration explicitly warned Condoleezza Rice and the incoming Bush administration that the most serious threat was from terrorism. That warning was completely ignored until 9/11.

Then, of course, the overreaction came and it is still with us. A bunch of criminals were raised to the level of holy warriors, our civil liberties were trashed, billions, perhaps trillions, of dollars were squandered. All, or most of this, has been ineffectual. We are in a perpetual war while Al Qaeda goes unpunished and bin Laden remains very much alive.

What else can we expect from people who think government is the problem. That conviction makes them incapable of governing -- as we have seen.