Living in a Tea Party America

I just finished reading an article about a small town in Western Tennessee. It seems that an elderly man in the rural area who had not sent in his $75 fire protection fee (the charge for folks who don't live within the town limits) had a fire at his home. His grandson was burning trash and the wind blew embers on top of the trailer home and set it on fire. The man called 911 and pleaded with them to come help save his home and his four pets. He even offered to pay double the fee. The fire department came, alright, but only to protect his neighbor's house (who had paid the $75). They made no effort whatsoever to save the man's home or his pets. The firemen just stood their and watched the home burn to the ground, killing the three dogs and one cat. Their excuses - we have to follow the rules, he didn't pay the $75 and we aren't allowed to help him. What a heartless bunch of crap!

I cannot believe that not one of the dozen or so firemen who came out to protect the neighbor's property had the guts to stand up for what is right and try to save that man's house. The article says that the whole town is outraged by their inactions. I wonder if those firemen can even look their own family and neighbors in the face after what they did not do.

Later in the day, the man's grandson went into town to discuss what had happened and ended up punching out the Fire Chief, giving him a black eye. The grandson was arrested and charged with aggravated felony assault. It seems to me that it should have been the Fire Chief and his boss, the Town Manager, who should have been arrested. The Town Manager is still defending the non-action of the fire department and the ridiculous $75 fee for fire protection services. I wonder how much of that fee goes straight into his pocket.

Here's an idea - fire the Town Manager and use his salary to cover the fire protection service fees of all of the rural homeowners. I'd bet you would even have enough left over to pay for a new trailer for that poor man. As it is, if that family is smart (and I'm pretty sure they will be), the town is going to have to pay a whole lot more by the time the lawsuits are finished. I cannot believe that any judge or jury would find in favor of the Town Manager and the Fire Department.

Is this what life in America is going to be like from now on? Are essential services only going to be given to those who can afford to pay? I hope not since I am on a very limited budget and, if I were in the same circumstance as that man in Tennessee, would probably not be able to pay the fee either. And while I don't own a house, I would be very afraid that if I had a medical emergency, the EMTs wouldn't come to help me if I hadn't paid some fee that I couldn't afford in the first place.

As the members of the Great Generation and the Baby Boomers start dying out, and the power for change is handed to the Me Generation and the GenX crowd, I worry greatly about the disappearing social safety nets that were put in place all those years ago. Can it be that we've actually raised a couple of generations of people who don't have a social conscience? I hope not. If we have, then we'll start seeing many more stories like the one above. There will be a whole lot of younger people just standing around and doing nothing while the lives of others are being destroyed. And that's really un-American.