I have been on a hiatus from Committed Conservative over the past few weeks as I moved my family from Virginia to Colorado, but I am making a brief return to make a point that shouldn’t have to be made:
Hurricane Harvey and the devastation that it has wreaked is a human tragedy that is not an appropriate place to try to score political points or pursue political vendettas.
As I peruse the “news” media and social media, I see countless instances in which “reporters” and everyday people are using this tragedy to attack President Trump, Senator Ted Cruz, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, Pastor Joel Osteen, and even First Lady Melania Trump.
This. Is. Not. The. Time. And. Place. For. Politics.
Hurricane Harvey dumped over thirteen trillion tons of water on Texas and is continuing to devastate the Gulf region into Louisiana. It is the most expensive natural disaster in human history, leaving literally hundreds of billions of dollars of damages in its wake. Tens of thousands of our fellow Americans have lost their homes and all of their worldly possessions, and there are over 30,000 people in more than 230 disaster shelters.
And we don’t know yet how many people have died.
But we do know the human cost. It is reflected in the 18-month-old toddler who was found clinging to her mother’s corpse after her mother gave her life trying to get her daughter to safety. (Heroic rescue workers saved the little girl’s life, and she is recovering. At least physically.)
This hurricane and the wreckage it has left behind is not liberal or conservative. It is not Democrat or Republican. It is not black, white, yellow, or brown. It is not Christian, Jewish, or Muslim.
This disaster is a human tragedy that affects all of us.
So, any person with a soul knows that this is not the time or place to inject political invective. This is the time and place for all Americans to unify in a common purpose.
If you are one of those exploiting this disaster to score political points or pursue political vendettas, you are a bad person. Or at least you have lost your way.
We all are and must be better than that.
I don’t care right now whether you are a committed conservative or an Antifa leftist. I don’t care if you are a Democrat or Republican. I don’t care about any racial or religious differences.
If you are a human being, you have a moral obligation to put your politics and ideological agendas aside and act purely as a human being. Make a donation to the Red Cross. Give blood. Donate food and clothes. If you have the ability, go to Texas and help with the recovery.
And whatever your religion, pray to God for the victims.
Stand side-by-side with your fellow human beings without asking about their politics, and work in a united effort to help our fellow human beings whose lives have been devastated.
Leave politics out of this. To do otherwise is indecent.
Author: Ken Falkenstein
Ken Falkenstein is the Managing Editor of Committed Conservative and brings a wealth of experience and expertise in public affairs to the job. Ken served in the U.S. Army in the last years of the Cold War as a Russian linguist for military intelligence and the NSA. After leaving the Army, he earned his degree in Secondary Education from Old Dominion University, where he also wrote a popular column in the student newspaper.
Upon graduation, Ken worked as a Legislative Aide to two Republican members of the Virginia House of Delegates. Ken also served as Corresponding Secretary of the Young Republican Federation of Virginia, managed several successful political campaigns, and managed governmental affairs operations for a local Realtor association.
In 1995, Ken moved to Washington, DC to serve as a Legislative Assistant to Sen. John Warner (R-VA). While working for Sen. Warner, Ken attended law school at night, earning his J.D. with honors from the George Mason University School of Law (n/k/a The Antonin Scalia Law School). Since that time, Ken has practiced as a civil litigation attorney, including serving for three years as an Associate City Attorney for the City of Virginia Beach, Virginia.
Ken previously was a contributor to the highly-regarded political blog Bearing Drift and was a weekly co-host of The Steve Batton Radio Program. In 2016, Ken ran unsuccessfully for the Virginia Beach School Board. Ken is also a former President of the Down Syndrome Association of Hampton Roads.
Ken now lives outside of Denver, Colorado with his wife, Kim, and three sons, Adam, Dylan, and Joshua, who has Down syndrome. Ken’s writing is motivated and informed primarily by his concern for his kids’ future.
