Steven Royster, Spokesman for the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs, had this to say of the tragic cyclone which has killed tens of thousands of people in Burma:
When a crisis like this strikes around the world, the Department of State’s first thought is for the safety of American citizens. As the storm brewed offshore, colleagues at the American Embassy in Rangoon issued two messages to Americans in country with advice on how to prepare for Nargis.
The Attackerman is outraged and snarks, “Don’t be surprised if that gets quoted in the next bin Laden tape.”
But, um, isn’t the first thought of the United States government supposed to be for the welfare of its own citizens? Those people our government is of, for, and by? Those people whose ancestors ordained its Constitution “in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity”? Who, you know, pay for the government to begin with?
Indeed, I’m given to understand that “The mission of the U.S. Department of State is to create a more secure, democratic, and prosperous world for the benefit of the American people and the international community.” Notice the order?
It’s not as if we’re not offering millions in aid to the Burmese victims, with many more millions doubtless to come. (If the murdering thugs who run the place accept it, of course.) We’re pretty generous at times like this. That doesn’t mean we don’t look out for our own, first.
