Harvey Help

It’s Labor Day, and another hurricane is on the way. The weather wizards have prophesied that this new hurricane might hit the East Coast and it might miss the East Coast. That seems to cover all possibilities.

This new storm is called Irma. That sounds ominous. Whenever central Virginia gets hit with a strong hurricane, it seems the storm’s name always has two syllables. Since I moved into my current abode, we’ve been hit by Gaston, Ivan, Cindy, Hanna, Irene, and Sandy. Other hurricanes and tropical storms have hit Virginia during the same time period, but the storms I just mentioned are the ones that stand out in my memory. When electricity goes off for days, when you can’t cook and the refrigerator gets warm, when the TV doesn’t work and the internet is down, when you see homes on your street with their roofs ripped off and big trees blown over, when there’s no food in the stores because the refrigerators and freezers stopped working, when all the gas stations are closed because the pumps won’t work – you tend to remember the names of those storms.

I’ve been through a few Virginia hurricanes. They are not super-powerful. They can be damn inconvenient, and they can be moderately expensive, but not on a scale like Sandy or Harvey. That’s why I sympathize with what the victims of Harvey are going through. For me, hurricanes have meant a few days of inconvenience. For victims of Sandy and Harvey, it can mean losing everything you have – for some, even their lives.

In 2012, states from North Carolina to New England suffered damage from Hurricane Sandy. Worst hit were parts of New York and New Jersey which were devastated by Sandy. At that time, Texas lawmakers overwhelmingly voted against federal aid to states impacted by Sandy. In fact, more than 20 representatives and senators voted against Sandy aid. Senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn voted against Sandy aid. Only one Texas Republican, Rep. John Culberson, supported Sandy aid. Now the shoe is on the other foot and the same lawmakers who opposed aid for Sandy victims are asking Congress for aid for Harvey victims. File this contradiction in the oh-but-this-is-different folder. I don’t want to call those lawmakers hypocrites but – no, actually I do want to call them hypocrites. It’s worth noting that representatives from New York and New Jersey have already said they will support aid for Harvey victims.

But Texans are hearty, self-reliant folk who prefer to take care of themselves rather than rely on help from outsiders. That is why they like to quote something Ronald Reagan once said: “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” That’s why you won’t hear Texans complain if financial aid is slow to arrive.

I’m not opposed to aid for Texas. Americans should help one another in times of need. I’m opposed to people saying one thing and doing the opposite when it’s for their own convenience. I suppose that’s the way human nature works. Or at least, that’s the way it works in Texas. But if Irma turns out to be as bad as Sandy, we’ll see if Texas lawmakers will have the chutzpah to vote “no” on aid again.