Editorial: We're all in this together

How many Libertarians does it take to change a light bulb?

That’s easy. None. If the bulb needed changing, the invisible hand of the free market would have done it.

That punch line has an extra sting considering the cruel drumbeat of day-after-day darkness many in the region have endured in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. If LIPA was a private company, would power have been restored sooner to Long Island? Probably not. Governor Andrew Cuomo’s justifiable (and politically adroit) outrage at the LIPA suits notwithstanding, hellacious winds, full moon-tides and an historic storm surge against communities at sea level produced a nightmare scenario any organization, public or private, would have been hard pressed to get a handle on quicker.

Another question about invisible hands as opposed to rhetoric about Nanny Government turning us all into spoiled children: If there was no Federal Emergency Management Agency, who would pick up the $325,000 tab the storm left the Island in its wake?

That figure comes from Police Chief Jim Read, the town’s emergency management director, reporting to the Town Board on the bill he’ll present to FEMA for reimbursement for storm damages. (See story, page 12.)  Twice the amount FEMA signed off on for damages done here by Tropical Storm Irene a year ago, the lion’s share this time will go to the Highway Department, to pay for its stellar job clearing debris. That work, by the way, allowed LIPA crews to restore power relatively quickly here.

It brings to mind a campaign slogan from the past election: We’re all in this together. This is anathema to Libertarianism, which hijacked the Republican Party in the form of the Tea Party tail wagging the GOP dog. How Libertarian ideology moved from keeping company with anti-fluoradationists and other Flat Earthers to a central position in the party of Lincoln and Eisenhower is a story for another place. But President Obama’s victory, and the defeat of Tea Party darlings such as Randy Altschuler, have shifted the ground away from those, like Mitt Romney, who would dismantle FEMA.

Governor Romney, in his contortions to appeal to a “I-got-mine” donor base, said during a primary debate, “Every time you have an occasion to take something from the federal government and send it back to the states, that’s the right direction. And if you can go even further, and send it back to the private sector, that’s even better.”

Maybe he was thinking of hapless Michael “Heckuva Job Brownie” Brown, former FEMA director in charge of the catastrophic federal response to Hurricane Katrina. A lesson learned there was not appointing a political hack to a job charged with saving lives and communities. FEMA’s response this time has been praised across the board, including Republican Governor Chis Christie and by Ed Gillespie, one of Governor Romney’s top aides.

We’ll take FEMA’s assistance, and thank a policy that believes that just as all of us helped Louisiana seven years ago, so the country again said we’re all in this together.