Another example of Norquist's small government - the recent floods in the state of Tobasco

Rick Perlstein has a continuing subject he calls "E Coli Conservatives." It's all about what happens when government is starved for funds so that only private business can function. Now we have another example for his series. The Tobasco floods which occurred a little over a week ago in which over 80% of the low-lying South Mexican state of Tobasco flooded.

Tobasco isn't a very wealthy state, and it is mostly very close to sea-level. But the problem was anticipated and funds were made available to prevent exactly what happened. Here is the story from The Los Angeles Times:

VILLAHERMOSA, MEXICO -- Although many people in this rainy, low-lying tropical city regard last week's catastrophic flood as an act of God or fate, others see it largely as a man-made disaster that could have been anticipated and should have been prevented.

Residents of Tabasco state, one of Mexico's poorest and most isolated areas, have experienced such calamities before, including a 1999 deluge that left more than 600 people dead.

But even as water levels slowly receded this week, environmental activists, opposition politicians and others expressed frustration and anger that more was not done after the 1999 calamity to avoid a replay. They said that the present flooding was fueled by rampant overbuilding, deforestation and wetlands destruction, and the squandering of funds that should have been spent on flood-prevention measures. [Snip]

"The resources that were given from [1999] and 2000 for the matter of inundation were badly applied, badly handled," said Hugo Ireta, a member of the Santo Tomas ecological association. "The state government gave the concession for these works to people that had no idea of what was needed, that never did studies."

Government collects money through taxes a lot more easily than most businesses (the ones not selling to government) do. People in government who are not watched closely will steal government funds. This is true of both government officials and of contractors to government. Individuals simply cannot be trusted to be honest when handling large sums of other people's money.

That's why no government executive can be trusted to make decisions without being closely watched, and the watchers need to be subject to review, oversight and the most disclosure that is possible. This is especially true during wartime, since the tendency is to conceal all mistakes, thefts and corruption behind a veil of classification.

The government and its funds do not belong to the government officials of any rank, no matter how high. They belong to the People. American Republicans, Congressman Jefferson, and the officials of the government of the state of Tobasco need to be watched, investigated, and when wrong, punished.

Oh, and the corruption in which the American telecoms participated when they illegally handed telecommunication data over to the government should also be investigated, publicly exposed, and punished instead of offered immunity from prosecution.