(HOST) The environmental catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico is still unfolding, and the scope of its consequences continues to widen. This morning, commentator and veteran ABC diplomatic correspondent Barrie Dunsmore is not looking for silver linings, but he does see one aspect of this crisis worth noting.
(DUNSMORE) I could argue that the latest disaster in the Gulf of Mexico may be an important wake-up call for Americans – which will make them more supportive of new laws to deal with the clearly growing threats to the planet that are coming with climate change. I would like to believe that – but I will not until such legislation is actually passed.
However, I confess to taking a certain amount of comfort in watching and listening to all those conservative Southern Republican politicians, who normally rail against Washington and preach self reliance, urging the Obama administration to do more and more for their states.
As Dana Milbank wrote this past week in the Washington Post, "There is something exquisite about the moment when a conservative decides he needs more government in his life." Milbank then went on to quote the plaintive pleas for federal assistance being made by Republican politicians of Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida – also reporting the firm promises they were making to their constituents that such aid would indeed be coming.
There is of course, nothing wrong with politicians looking out for their voter’s interests. It’s just that these particular politicians are the ones forever raging against excessive federal government spending – even as they continue to fight to keep their prominent spots at the public feeding trough. And that’s not just my opinion.
According to a Washington Post analysis of the latest data from the nonpartisan Tax Foundation, people in states that voted Republican were by far the biggest beneficiaries of federal spending. States that voted strongly Republican got $1.50 back from the Feds for every dollar they sent to Washington; whereas states that voted strongly Democratic got only 99 cents back. In three Republican states of the deep South, the discrepancy is even greater. Alabama gets $1.66 in benefits for every dollar it pays in federal taxes; Louisiana gets $1.78; and Mississippi gets $2.02.
That suggests that if Southern conservatives were to get their way with federal spending cuts, those who would likely suffer most are their own constituents.
For much of the history of this country, there has been an on-going debate about the size and power of the federal government. Right now the Tea Party is attracting great attention by vociferously disparaging the government and especially the taxes needed to make it work. But even beyond the Tea Party, the public abhorrence of taxes in any form is making state governments of California and New York, among others, look hapless and dysfunctional.
But all it takes is a major crisis – such as the global economic meltdown of 2008 or the current disaster in the Gulf – for even small-government ideologues to turn to the federal government to resolve their problems. That is to be expected. But the lesson should be clear: you cannot forever continue to ask government for more and more – and expect to pay less and less for it.