Hurricanes and Other Political Matters

I find myself more or less directly in the path of a hurricane here in San Antonio. As I write this, my neighborhood is expected to stay out of the hurricane proper, but our city and of course the region overall is in quite a bit of danger. So perhaps folks won't mind if I make a few comments about politics and disasters as we here in Texas and our neighbors in Louisiana prepare and wait.

Here's the thing: The costs of this storm will very much be the result of short-term and long-term public policy decisions. That's always true of major weather. It's true of mass shootings. It's true of all sorts of things, many of which seem "natural" at first glance. So don't criticize people for politicizing these things; they are, like it or not, inherently political.