Irresponsibility
Here's a letter I sent to the NY Times today:
To The Editor:
It is bizarre that the Republican party, which claims to be the standard bearer for 'personal responsibility,' has a leader who seems to have no comprehension whatsover about what it means to 'take responsibility.' Truly taking responsibility for reckless, careless, or simply inadequate action requires far more than simply stating that one is responsible.The president must not just state that things went wrong, but explain how his own actions and ideology has led to the poor performance of federal agencies. It is time for Mr. Bush to come clean with the American people. To explain that when he and his conservative colleagues talk about 'less government' this is exactly what they mean. The inadequacy of FEMA's disaster preparedness was not incompetence, it was the expected result of a `starve the beast` ideology which holds the worship of tax cuts above the real hard work of actual governing.
The flooded city, hundreds of thousands displaced, and still uncounted dead are vivid reminders of what it means when government is undermined and denigrated. The country doesn't need a president who says they take responsibility, we need someone who actually acts responsibly. Roll back the tax cuts, invest in our vital infrastructure, admit that government can and must play a vital role in people's lives.
I wanted to work in something about Grover Norquist now having a large enough bathtub to drown the Bush administration, although probably not the whole government. But I was already over the word limit.
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