We are entering the busy part of the Hurricane Season. Living in Fort Myers, I pay close attention to that stuff. They have predicted a more than average Hurricane Season, and that always concerns me. My morning routine involves starting the coffee and turning on the Weather Channel to check on the tropics. I know most people turn on the News first, but to me, the weather is the most important thing. Why? Because there are lives at stake. I am not saying that having a pedophile in the White House isn’t a big deal. I am not saying the corruption in the Supreme Court is important. I am not saying that the Republicans cheating in the elections so they can acquire more power isn’t important. They are all important. The way our government responds to the weather is a direct reflection of how it addresses the needs of the people.

We have had terrible flooding in Texas with great loss of life. How could this have happened? The flooding in Texas was very devastating, with more than 130 deaths and many more people still missing. The estimated damage may be as high as $22 billion. The death toll from the actual flooding is just heartbreaking, but I have read that the actual death toll may be as high as 22,000. That is because we never think of the indirect deaths from a crisis that may take years to happen. The severe health problems, both physical and mental, that will be part of the after-effects of the flooding will not be counted in the total, but in reality, that flooding will be responsible for those too. So, what is Texas doing about helping these victims, for now and for the future? It doesn’t look like a hell of a lot. What I see is that the Administration and Political party that failed these people in the first place are trying to rig the election so they maintain power. People died, and Texas has failed those people, so instead of working on problems that will benefit the people, they are working on a plan to redraw the precinct maps to ensure they remain in power.

I went through Hurricane Ian almost 3 years ago, and you still see the scars everywhere. On Fort Myers Beach, there are still buildings that need to be torn down. People are still fighting about the reaction of the State and Federal governments and their lack of action to help the people. Something like 120 people died in Lee County because of the hurricane, but I am sure that the hurricane killed many more. I knew a man who survived Ian, but because of his health problems, he died within the year. He was in the hospital following the storm for about a month because of infections from the polluted water. He never fully recovered and died within the year. He isn’t part of the statistics of the people the storm killed, but it killed him nevertheless, and there are many more stories just like his. After a disaster like what we had, you see the vultures circling almost immediately. Why? Because there are not systems in place that will make a person whole again after a disaster. We have to have insurance, but after a disaster like what we had, the Insurance Companies are working overtime trying to figure out how they are not going to pay you. You have to replace a door that was damaged, which the insurance company says is worth $500, but because of changes in the building codes, that actual cost winds up being over $7000 to replace that door. Who has to make up the difference? The victim who lost so much in the storm already.  There are just too many people who couldn’t afford to make up the difference, who just had to walk away from their life on the beach and start over again.

The number of weather-related disasters is growing. You can deny climate change all you want, but the facts are the facts. What is being done to help us prepare for these disasters? Not enough because then they would have to admit that climate change is real. Gerrymandering doesn’t fix anything. To me, it is just keeping the people who have already failed us in power. In Texas, the State and Federal governments have failed the people who have experienced such death and devastation. People have died, and Texas is working hard to make sure those who don’t want to deliver government for the people remain in power. The Trump administration has stated that it would like to do away with FEMA, claiming it doesn’t work. He doesn’t want to replace it with anything that he thinks would be more efficient. He would like to just turn the problems over to the States so he doesn’t have to deal with them. He would turn over the functions of FEMA to States like Texas, which would rather work harder at gerrymandering and voter suppression than they would work for the needs of the people. Too many Republicans don’t want to have elections based on accomplishments. They would rather have voting suppression techniques like gerrymandering so they don’t have to run on their actual record.

Every morning, I wake up, and the first channel I turn on is the Weather Channel. When I evacuated for Hurricane Ian, it wasn’t because the State and Local governments told me to. It was because the weatherman told me to. He warned me before the state and local governments told me to. Trust a government that believes that power is more important than being accountable to the people, is not a government that I can trust to look out for my well-being and safety.