It's Not Hypocrisy

The Left has been crowing a lot about conservatives asking for federal assistance with the clean up of the Gulf Coast and the Tennessee flooding. To them, it's hypocritical of the right to ask for federal help, what with them being advocates of smaller federal government and self-reliance.

One tiny problem: it's not all that hypocritical.

Conservatives believe that government should do for citizens what they cannot do for themselves. Flood recovery and oil spill clean up have pretty big price tags, costs that would bankrupt states if they were to pay them themselves. That's why the government has FEMA and the EPA in place: to pick up the slack.

What the Left doesn't understand is that a desire for smaller government is not the same thing as a desire for no government. Asking for federal assistance in dealing with those things that the citizens cannot do for themselves isn't hypocritical; it's consistent with what conservatives actually believe. For the Left to crow about what they see as hypocrisy is laughable at best because it shows how little they actually understand about the right.

On the other hand, one could make the argument that the Left is being hypocritical with the Tennessee floods and the Gulf Coast oil spill. For all of their talk about compassion and helping the less fortunate, I haven't heard the Left doing much to help the flood victims in Tennessee or to help clean up efforts along the Gulf Coast.

But I have heard them making plenty of comments from the sidelines.

If you care so much about those in need, it's time to man up, roll up your sleeves, and do something. Until you do, you're bigger hypocrites than you say the right is.