海角大神

As extreme weather marked by tornadoes and flooding continues to sweep across Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott has requested 鈥� and President Obama has granted 鈥� federal help.聽

I don鈥檛 begrudge Texas billions of dollars in disaster relief. After all, we鈥檙e all part of America. When some of us are in need, we all have a duty to respond.聽

But the flow of federal money poses a bit of awkwardness for the Lone Star State.聽

After all, just over a month ago hundreds of Texans decided that a pending Navy Seal/Green Beret joint training exercise was really an excuse to take over the state and impose martial law. And they claimed the Federal Emergency Management Agency was erecting prison camps, readying Walmart stores as processing centers for political prisoners.聽

There are nut cases everywhere, but Texas鈥檚 governor, Greg Abbott added to that particular outpouring of paranoia by ordering the Texas State Guard to monitor the military exercise. 鈥淚t is important that Texans know their safety, constitutional rights, private property rights and civil liberties will not be infringed upon,鈥� he聽. In other words, he鈥檇 protect Texans from this federal plot.聽

Now, Abbott wants federal money. And the Federal Emergency Management Agency is gearing up for a major role in the cleanup 鈥� including places like Bastrop, Texas, where the Bastrop State Park dam failed 鈥� and where, just five weeks ago, a U.S. Army colonel trying to explain the pending military exercise was shouted down by hundreds of self-described patriots shouting 鈥渓iar!鈥澛�

Texans dislike the federal government even more than most other Americans do. According to a February聽conducted by the University of Texas and the Texas Tribune, only 23 percent of Texans view the federal government favorably, while 57 percent view it unfavorably, including more than a third who hold a 鈥渧ery unfavorable鈥� view.

Texas dislikes the federal government so much that eight of its congressional representatives, along with Senator Ted Cruz,聽disaster relief for the victims of Hurricane Sandy 鈥� adding to the awkwardness of their lobbying for the federal relief now heading Texas鈥檚 way.聽

Yet even before the current floods, Texas had received more disaster relief than any other state, according to a聽by the Center for American Progress. That鈥檚聽not simply because the state is so large. It鈥檚聽also because Texas is particularly vulnerable to extreme weather 鈥� tornadoes on the plains, hurricanes in the Gulf, flooding across its middle and south.聽

Given this, you might also think Texas would take climate change especially seriously. But here again, there鈥檚聽cognitive dissonance between what the state needs and how its officials act.聽

Among Texas鈥檚 infamous climate-change deniers is Lamar Smith, chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, who聽聽last year鈥檚 report by the United Nations鈥� Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as 鈥渕ore political than scientific,鈥� and the White House report on the urgency of addressing climate change as designed 鈥渢o frighten Americans.鈥�
Smith is still at it. His committee just slashed by more than 20 percent NASA鈥檚 spending on Earth science, which includes climate change.

It鈥檚 of course possible that Texas鈥檚 current record rainfalls 鈥� the National Weather Service聽聽that the downpour in May alone was enough to put the entire state under eight inches of water 聽鈥� has 聽nothing to do with the kind of extreme weather we鈥檙e witnessing elsewhere in the nation, such as the West鈥檚 current drought, the North鈥檚 record winter snowfall, and flooding elsewhere.聽

But you鈥檇 have to be nuts not to be at least curious about such a connection, and its relationship to the carbon dioxide humans have been spewing into the atmosphere.聽

Consider also the consequences for the public鈥檚 health. Several deaths in Texas have been linked to the extreme weather. Many Texans have been injured by it, directly or indirectly. Poor residents are in particular peril because they live in areas prone to flooding or in flimsy houses and trailers that can be washed or blown away.聽

What鈥檚 Texas鈥檚 response? 聽Texas officials continue to turn down federal funds to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, thereby denying insurance to聽聽people and preventing the state from receiving an estimated聽聽in federal cash over the next decade.聽

I don鈥檛 want to pick on Texas.聽Its officials are not alone in hating the federal government, denying climate change, and refusing to insure its poor.聽

And I certainly don鈥檛 want to suggest all Texans are implicated. Obviously, many thoughtful and reasonable people reside there.聽

Yet Texans have elected people who seem not to have a clue. Indeed, Texas has done more in recent years to聽institutionalize irrationality than almost anywhere else in America 鈥� thereby imposing a huge burden on its citizens.

How many natural disasters will it take for the Lone Star State to wake up to the disaster of its elected officials?