New Year's Wish: Americans Need Four Walls…and a Roof!

$21 million is needed to help the poor citizens of what formerly was Paradise, California. At least

that’s the amount estimated by organizations in California. Sounds pretty low, doesn’t it? CAL FIRE estimates 7,500 homes were damaged or destroyed.

If one watches the news, the ‘tent city’ at WalMart looks like an REI covered football field, and after Thanksgiving they were told to move.  This does not include all the businesses destroyed or made bankrupt by what is essentially a modern day ghost town created by a firestorm of epic proportions. 

And that’s just one of the two fires that hit California in November.

Then there is the flooding in central Texas, not to mention the tornadoes. USA Today reports: “Severe storms roared across the Deep South late Wednesday and early Thursday, leaving two people 

dead and about 100,000 homes and businesses powerless.”

So I keep wondering about what America can do to help with the unfortunate victims of the ‘new normal’ —a continuous, severe climate change?

I know one thing for sure; this nation has the financial

resources to put people who are sitting chilled to the bone under a nylon tent in a room; whether it is a hotel, motel or some form of temporary housing. But that is not happening. People’s insurance money is either running out or never was purchased to cover this type of disaster. Extended families are helping if they can.

How do I know we have the funds? Pretty simple. $5 billion for ‘a wall’ is Mr. Trump’s idea of security, and no one seems to doubt the money is there. Democrats have countered with perhaps $1 billion to upgrade border security, but not ‘a wall.’ A billion dollars. Sometimes we forget what that amounts to: 1,000,000,000.

And I ask, isn’t the fundamental to the oath of office many federal government officials take: “to preserve and protect”—not just The Constitution, but the citizens of this nation made homeless through no fault of their own?

Certainly, the individual state’s capacity is limited, and each state has spent millions on fire fighting and flood relief. Fires and floods know no State or County borders. It’s time for the Federal Government to step up. Instead, the Federal Government is shut down. 

The commendable efforts of thousands of breweries who have supported Serra Nevada Beer will
have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars, but that is a drop in the barrel, so to speak.

I care so much more about Americans in desperate need, than ‘a wall’ of dubious need.  Putting “America First” means setting priorities to help Americans—especially those who are displaced, deserted, and soon to be forgotten as the New Year approaches.

I do not mean to denigrate the needs of those racing away from the violence south of our border, but let us be sure that our nation, in which they seek asylum, is one that gives hope and security to its own citizens.