Where are the Grover Cleveland’s?
After Hurricane Ian, now is a good time to look at the example set by President Grover Cleveland
Whenever there’s a natural disaster, there’s never a shortage of pandering politicians promising the government’s help.
Hurricane Ian hit Florida last week, and of course, the politicians were ready to pounce.
Democrat Vice President Kamala Harris suggested federal “relief” (otherwise known as government theft of the people to hand out to other people, but it’s alright because we call it “charity” by force) should be aimed at so-called “equity.”
Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis found the podium to say he’s working with surrounding governors and will meet with Democrat President Joe Biden, which I guess somehow makes theft ok since it’s bipartisan?
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida) has declared he “will fight against” a federal relief bill. Well, that’s a little out of context. He said he’ll fight it if other politicians put “pork in it.” Rubio, certainly, believes theft is ok for his pork, which like it or not all so-called federal “aid” is, but not for other politicians’ pork.
Unfortunately, there are no Grover Cleveland’s to be found. Cleveland, a Democrat, was America’s 22nd and 24th president as the country’s only president to serve two non-consecutive terms. He was president from 1885 to 1889 and later from 1893 to 1897. The difference between then and now was that the U.S. Constitution still had some meaning.
Thomas DiLorenzo described Cleveland:
“He was the last American president in the Jefferson/Andrew Jackson/John Tyler tradition, and the last good Democrat to serve in that office. For the most part, his successors (in both parties) have ranged from pathetic panderers to dangerous, megalomaniacal warmongers, or both.”
Cleveland did not believe the government was to take care of the people, and that included after natural disasters. And he proved he meant it on multiple occasions.
In 1887, Texas was hit with a terrible drought leading to a massive loss to crops of Texas farmers. Politicians from the state were able to convince the U.S. Congress to approve $10,000 to provide seeds for Texas farmers. Cleveland vetoed it.
Cleveland stated he could “find no warrant for such an appropriating in the Constitution,” and “federal aid, in such cases, encourages the expectations of paternal care on the part of the government and weakens the sturdiness of our national character.”
Of course, Cleveland was correct. Not only is there no authority for the federal government to provide “aid” of any kind in the Constitution, it is also destructive to society creating dependence and entitlements.
Founding Father James Madison, the 4th president and one of the key figures in crafting the Constitution, the federal government was to be “a limited government, tied down to the specified powers, which explain and define the general terms,” and any use of taxpayer dollars for “charity” would “subvert the very foundations, and transmute the very nature of the limited government established by the people of America.”
Cleveland was not callous and heartless. He believed Americans should step up and help their fellow man, but he believed it must be given freely. He said: “The friendliness and charity of our countrymen can always be relied upon to relieve their fellow citizens in misfortune.”
Guess what? Cleveland was right again. Instead of the $10,000 approved by the Congress, Americans freely gave over $100,000 to help the Texas farmers.
Matthew Algeo, writing for the New York Times in 2012, described the 1887 drought as well as a hurricane that killed 30 people in New York and 2,000 in Georgia in 1893, during Cleveland’s second term.
Again, Cleveland did not bend to political pressure but stuck firm to the principle that the federal government had no authority to step in and “help.” And again, the people freely stepped in to offer real help. In particular, it was Clara Barton, a 72-year-old nurse and founder of the American Red Cross. Algeo wrote:
“Almost single-handedly, Ms. Barton organized relief efforts — distributing food and clothing and supervising the construction of new homes (first for widows and the infirm). Her heroic work, especially in the South, saved countless thousands from disease and starvation.”
The famous last words of Cleveland, who died in 1908, were: “I have tried so hard to do right.”
Cleveland, unfortunately, is one of those presidents ignored by historians. He was, in fact, one of the best. Some quotes that should be admired by Cleveland:
—“Manifestly nothing is more vital to...the beneficient purposes of our government than a sound and stable currency.”
—“Once the coffers of the general government are opened to the public, there will be no shutting them again.”
—“Our citizens have the right to protection from the incompetency of public employees.”
—“The lesson should be constantly enforced that though the people support the Government, Government should not support the people.”
—“Under our scheme of government the waste of public money is a crime against the citizen.”
—“When more of the people's sustenance is exacted through the form of taxation than is necessary to meet the just obligations of government and expenses of its economical administration, such exaction becomes ruthless extortion and a violation of the fundamental principles of a free government.”
—“A due regard for the interests and prosperity of all the people demands that...our system of revenue shall be so adjusted as to relieve the people of unnecessary taxation.”
Algeo ended his 2012 piece: “Grover Cleveland was never accused of sacrificing his principles for political expediency. But in politics, sometimes principle has a price.”
Unfortunately, that is true. There are no more Grover Cleveland’s in American politics.
The closest was probably Ron Paul, a former Congressman from Texas and two-time Republican presidential candidate and one-time Libertarian presidential candidate.
Writing on Hurricane Ian and why the federal government should not step in to “help,” Paul wrote:
“Last week Congress passed a continuing resolution and then adjourned until after the election. When Congress reconvenes, it will almost certainly pass a multi-billion dollars aid package for those impacted by Hurricane Ian. This spending will likely be labeled ‘emergency,’ so Congress members will not even have to pretend they are offsetting the new spending with cuts in other, lower priority programs.”
“The failure of Congress to offset spending on disaster relief with cuts in other programs is one reason why I always voted against disaster aid when I was in Congress, even when the spending was for disasters that occurred in my district. Of course, I also opposed these bills because disaster relief is unconstitutional and immoral as are all other income redistribution programs.”
“When I voted against disaster relief, my office would receive angry calls from constituents. However, within several months many of those constituents would call back to say that after dealing with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) they realized that disaster victims would be better off without federal ‘help.’”
“Federally managed disaster relief is neither efficient nor compassionate. My office often heard from frustrated individuals whose plans to rebuild were put on hold because of delays in getting federal assistance.”
“My staff and I heard many horror stories of FEMA mistreating disaster victims. For example, FEMA was supposed to put a tarp on a house whose roof was destroyed in Hurricane Ike, but it put the tarp on the house next door, even though that house’s roof was fine. When the owner of the house that needed a tarp called FEMA, he was told it would be several weeks before FEMA could send someone out to correct FEMA’s mistake. The homeowner told FEMA that he would move the tarp himself with assistance of his neighbors. FEMA told him that anyone who touched the tarp without FEMA’s approval would be fined and maybe thrown in jail.”
“In the days following a hurricane, my staff and I also heard complaints from people about how government officials were preventing them from entering their own property. Of course, these restrictions were all claimed to be ‘for the people’s own good.’”
“FEMA’s failures are the inevitable result of placing authority over disaster relief in a large, centralized bureaucracy. Therefore, the problem cannot be fixed by changing personnel or updating or streamlining FEMA’s procedures. Instead, FEMA should be abolished, and responsibility for disaster relief should be returned to individuals, local communities, and civic and charitable organizations. Individuals should be able to deduct from their income taxes 100 percent of the costs of recovering from a natural disaster. Businesses affected by a natural disaster should also be provided generous tax relief. Tax-free savings accounts could help Americans accumulate funds for use in the event of a natural disaster.”
“In 1900, a major hurricane devastated Galveston, Texas. Despite the fact that FEMA or other federal disaster relief programs did not then exist, the people of Galveston managed to rebuild their city. This proves that there is no justification for federal involvement in disaster recovery. The federal government should return responsibility for disaster relief to the people by shutting down FEMA. Congress should also ensure people have the resources to take care of themselves by ending the welfare-warfare state, repealing the 16th Amendment and the associated income tax, and auditing then ending the Federal Reserve.”
Worth noting: Climate Change did not cause Hurricane Ian
While this piece focused on the example set by Cleveland in dealing with natural disasters, since it’s about Hurricane Ian, I felt it worth a reminder that Climate Change did not cause the storm nor did it cause it to be stronger than normal.
Hurricane Ian has killed anywhere between 70 and 100 people, and the puppet media has been apoplectic in decrying Climate Change as the cause as they claim this to be one of the deadliest storms ever. Of course, that’s a lie.
Certainly, any death from this storm is tragic for those who knew and loved those people, and we should pray for them. But, that doesn’t give the media the right to lie.
Remember the referenced above hurricane from 1893 that killed over 2,000. Certainly, a much larger number than 100.
David Stockman noted another Florida hurricane from 1928, the Okeechobee storm which killed over 2,500 Floridians. It was the deadliest storm in the state’s history, and it occurred during a time fossil fuels were in far less use.
Noting the lie pushed by the media and the Biden regime, Stockman wrote:
“Then again, why should mere orders of magnitude get in the way of the narrative? Just assert the ‘Climate Change causes bad weather’ mantra over and over and be done with it.”
“Still, this stubborn truth remains: Hurricanes are not getting bigger, more frequent and more destructive, and the evidence for that is overwhelming.”
“In fact, on a global basis there has been essentially no change in the frequency of these storms during the last 50 years – a span in which mankind has been allegedly wrecking the climate owing to soaring fossil fuel use and the resulting CO2 emissions.”
Stockman provided charts and graphs showing fossil fuels increasing in use by a factor of 2.5X since 1970 while the annual number of hurricanes has actually declined, although slightly. Tropical storms have fluctuated during that timeframe. He goes on to provide much more evidence to show the “climate crises” mantra is a flat out lie.
All of the evidence seems to suggest that nature is going to nature, and man must have some extreme level of arrogance to think he can change that.