Every day, more and more harrowing and horrifying tales are coming out of Indiana and Kentucky. According to the National Weather Service, at least 30 tornadoes descended and scarred the landscape on Friday. At least 39 people have been killed.
One woman in Indiana lost both her legs during the destruction while she covered her children from the falling debris of their apartment complex.
Many of us have heard of the baby Angel, who was found in a field with her entire family dead around her. Although she survived the initial trauma of the storm, the 14-month-old girl passed away two days later.
Such is the feeling after a horrible disaster. A mix of relief, happiness, sadness, and hope abounds because the future is so wildly uncertain. Considering the $5.8 million dollar price tag on the devastation, the storm will have a strong impact for years to come.
That's where groups like the Federal Emergency Management Agency come in. Kentucky Governor Steven Beshear became the first to ask for aid from the federal government by urging the president to declare the scene a major disaster area.
Doing so would provide individual and public assistance to the 48 affected counties.
Not everyone sees this as a good thing. Major presidential candidate and Texas Congressman Ron Paul saw this as an opportunity to tout his steadfast adherence to his Libertarian ideology.
Sunday, on CNN's State of the Union, he told the world that the victims of the violent storms and tornadoes should not receive any emergency aid from the federal government.
Apparently anyone who needs federal aid shouldn't have been such a sucker and should have picked up twister insurance.
You must admit, at least Paul sticks by his guns even when he sounds bad doing it.
Firstly, many insurance policies include "act of God" clauses, which actually exclude damages caused by many major natural disasters. In that event, you have to buy even more coverage, which can be very expensive for the average person.
Not everyone is independently wealthy. That might be hard for some to understand, but not everyone can afford top-of-the-line insurance.
Next, we have to understand that not every person in America is a charitable soul and not all disasters get big media coverage. Sure, a lot of money will get privately donated to help the cause, but a great many people will not give anything.
That's part of what our federal taxes are for, to make sure that people who need help in the worst of situations receive it. The private sector can't handle the entirety of these disasters on its own.
Personal responsibility is the core tenant of the Libertarian ideal, and that's an entirely respectable stance. Many of the ideas of personal freedom that Paul and his supporters tout are very easy for us to wrap our heads around.
It's his statements like this that turn us off to him. Government is not the problem in every single situation. Everyone can get behind cutting waste and reworking the federal budget, but to do so at the cost of throwing the disadvantaged away is not the right way to do it.
We're all one family in the U.S., and it's perfectly okay to help when the time comes.
