"You Can't Govern if You Don't Believe in Government"

[Amy6627]

"You Can't Govern if You Don't Believe in Government"
by Thom Hartmann

In a May 25, 2001 Morning Edition interview, Grover Norquist told National Public Radio's Mara Liasson, "I don't want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub."

Norquist got his wish. Democracy - and at least several thousand people, most of them Democrats, black, and poor - drowned last week in the basin of New Orleans. Our nation failed in its response, because for most of the past 25 years conservatives who don't believe in governance have run our government.

As incompetent as George W. Bush has been in his response to the disaster in New Orleans, he wasn't the one who began the process that inevitably led to that disaster spiraling out of control.

That would be Ronald Reagan.

It was Reagan who began the deliberate and intentional destruction of the United States of America when he famously cracked (and then incessantly repeated): "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'"

Reagan, like George W. Bush after him, failed to understand that when people come together into community, and then into nationhood, that they organize themselves to protect themselves from predators, both human and corporate, both domestic and foreign. This form of organization is called government.

More here: http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0906-21.htm

[AtomicKitten]

1. Bush says it "raises questions of gov't ability to respond"

Pahleeze. He amassed troops in Iraq's border while the inspectors were in Iraq, moving tons of equipment and manpower. It has always been their attempt to starve government services. FEMA is what taxpayer's pay for, not Bush's capricious BS war-mongering. If this is the best Republicans have to offer, no thanks. We need leadership, a president that realizes he's working for us and has a heart for the people. This CEO has got to go!

[Amy6627]

4. I think this bumper sticker sums up dubya's presidency:

Drunken frat boy drives country into ditch!

[Lindacooks]

2. Wow, that's one of the best op ed pieces I've ever read.

And absolutely, TOTALLY true.

[Amy6627]

3. Thom Hartmann is fabulous! He has a daily radio program

that airs at the sametime as Al Franken. Thom is so imformative, he has all the facts, figures and dates in his head. Listening to him is like having a beer with your favorite history professor. I never miss his show.