FEMA and the Second Gilded Age

The Second Gilded Age is upon us, and it demands its own set of scathing political cartoons.

If I were an artist, I would replace the cartoonishly large, cigar-smoking men representing William “Boss” Tweed, bloated trusts, and greedy robber barons with equally meaty figures depicting swollen government agencies withholding help to Americans of the “wrong” political persuasion.

This second golden age of political graft and corruption is not entirely unlike the first, nor is it its perfect twin. Whereas references to the Gilded Age conjure images of wealthy capitalist tycoons blocking the democratic process and manipulating frail, timid politicians to enact their self-seeking wills, the modern equivalent is far more flagrantly partisan. In this iteration, monstrous federal monopolies of power seek to maintain their authority by obstructing and otherwise punishing opposing parties. Lest anyone assume I am speaking in mere hyperbole, several recent real-world examples illustrate my point.

The “FEMA incident”

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was already in hot water after its embarrassing response to Hurricanes Helene and Milton. (Nearly running out of money mid-hurricane season was not a great look, especially for an organization whose purpose is to, you know, help people during hurricane season.) Of course, that only compounded the problem that, constitutionally, FEMA should not even exist.

Then, it came to light that a FEMA disaster relief official had ordered her workers to “avoid homes advertising Trump” (her words), meaning those homes “were not given the opportunity to qualify for FEMA assistance.”

“It’s almost unbelievable to think that somebody in the federal government would think that’s okay,” one federal worker marveled. “I volunteered to help disaster victims, not discriminate against them. It didn’t matter if people were black, white, Hispanic, for Trump, for Harris. Everyone deserves the same amount of help.”

Yeah, well, you may feel that way, buddy, but your employers certainly don’t.

Interestingly, FEMA’s number one 2022-2026 goal is to “instill equity as a foundation of emergency management.”

I must confess I have no clue what that’s supposed to mean. As is typical of the woke vernacular, lines about equity almost always sound poetic, but, when you stop to think about it, don’t really make any sense at all. “Equity is a smoke made with the fume of sighs,” or something like that. BUT, I do know this: whatever “equity” means to FEMA, it assuredly does not apply to radical right-wing extremists who voted for Trump.

A.k.a., 75,176,199 Americans.

This is only the latest example of corrupt federal agencies hiding behind sweet talk about unity even as they punish those who disagree with them. The slaps on the wrist, the threat of the FBI showing up at your front door, the DOJ’s prolific use of labels — Nazis! KKK! Domestic terrorists! — are all meant to teach us a lesson: Shut up and fall in line. Disperse, ye rebels, disperse.

After all, you don’t want to lose your FEMA funding, now do you?

One of the most famous political cartoons of the Gilded Age, “The Bosses of the Senate” by Joseph Keppler, depicts troll-like monopolists barring the “people’s entrance” into Congress as they lord their immense wealth over enervated senators. “This is a senate,” an overheard sign reminds the puppets masquerading as lawmakers, “of the monopolists, by the monopolists, and for the monopolists!”

Today, we might raise a similar sign over the whole of Washington, DC: “This is a government of the bureaucrats, by the bureaucrats, and for the bureaucrats!” The people’s entrance is still closed. The State will suffer no rival.

Just as cartoonish, cigar-smoking men once blocked the people (in roundabout ways) from having their voice heard in the democratic process, so, too, have federal agencies tainted the Founders’ intention for government. The federal leviathan would rather punish us for our unyielding political views than listen to us.

But we are not without remedy. With an Article V convention and the accompanying grassroots movement, we can reset the federal government to the Founders’ original framework — a system of checks and balances ensuring federal accountability to “We the People.” 

Visit conventionofstates.com today to learn more. Sign the Convention of States petition below to support our movement!