FEMA is not going away anytime soon. We love the disaster recovery money too much, just ask the Governor of Texas who was whining lately about not getting funding for the series of fires they have had in the state.
Ron Paul does touch a nerve on how FEMA staff can behave at times. They are after all government bureaucrats doing their job at administering the rules that are complex, confusing and sometimes contradictory.
The example that Ron Paul uses of bailing people out for living where they should not be living resonates with many emergency managers. It is not about getting rid of FEMA, but changing policies that promote land use planning (something else that Ron Paul might oppose) and disaster mitigation. I'm all for not bailing out people who deliberately build in high risk areas. Love the beach house--then take the risk on yourself!
I was a bit surprised that he did not bring up the Black Helicopters aspect of the dark side of FEMA. This maybe is old hat these days, but back in the 80's and 90's it was a hot topic for those fearing the federal government.
We do need FEMA. There exists the requirement to coordinate the federal family of agencies in being prepared for disasters, responding to them and putting things back together after a disaster. They should also be leading the Continuity of Government (COG) effort for all of federal government. It is something we don't hear much about of late.
