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Disaster Relief is Good Government
As tragedy strikes Kentucky, Republicans like Sen. Rand Paul should rethink obstructing a relief aid agency like the Small Business Administration.
“We lost lives in at least eight counties,” Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear told reporters during a press conference Monday morning. “With this amount of damage and rubble, it may be a week or even more before we have a final count on the number of lost lives.”
The unseasonably late swarm of tornadoes swept across six states Friday night, leveling some small communities almost completely. Of the 88 people killed in the tragedy, 74 were in Kentucky where another 109 remain missing.
“We declared a state of emergency at roughly midnight, before the storm really hit,” Beshear added. “We received an immediate federal emergency declaration on Sunday, which is the fastest we’ve ever seen and last night we received a federal declaration of major emergency.”
In the wake of this terrible tragedy, it’s lucky for Kentuckians that government aid agencies have been so responsive. Because of quick thinking and good governance, help was already in route before the storm did its worst.
In the aftermath of this natural disaster, ’tis the season for limited-government proponents like Sen. Rand Paul to consider a change of heart about the meaning and purpose…