Seriously though, disasters like this put the absolute lie to the Republican’s central argument and philosophy. We are not a nation where everyone is on their own, where you and you alone as an individual is responsible for any and all success you have in life. If that were true, then why did I not see Donald Trump up in a power truck bucket today? Long ago we as a society, as human beings really, realized that there were tasks that were too big to be left to any one person. Building and maintaining of roads, and then public utilities like water and power and public transportation in big cities, and railway lines connecting those cities. We formed governments, and tasked it and those who ran it with these duties of protecting and maintaining the common utilities of society, and the safety of the people.
Yes, government cannot do everything. But it can do what any one person cannot: like coordinate disaster response and pay for it.