West Alabama Thursday Briefing

Good morning West Alabama! It is Thursday, February 13, 2025. This is the 44th day of the year with 321 days remaining.

Thursday Morning Observations:

Government is meant to serve the people but too often the people exist to serve a bloated bureaucracy.

A "democratic attitude" prioritizes citizen participation, responsiveness to public needs, and flexibility in decision-making. Not surprisingly, a "bureaucratic attitude" focuses on strict adherence to rules, hierarchy, formal procedures and often prioritizes consistency and predictability over responsiveness to citizen concerns - the status quo.

Essentially a true democratic attitude is bottom-up while a bureaucratic attitude in top-down.

The Federal government was relatively lean until the Great Depression struck. During the 1920s, the U.S. government’s approach to spending was conservative, with fiscal policies that favored lower taxes and reduced government spending, aligning with the Republican Party’s ideals. (Sound familiar?)

The premise of Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt's "New Deal" was to grow government into a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations to rescue the U.S. from the Great Depression. It involved increased government spending as a stimulus to boost the economy. (Sound familiar?)

Most of the New Deal programs were expected to go away after the nation returned to normal. But once a bureaucracy is formed, its main purpose becomes to continue to exist whether it is effective or not.

Donald Trump is not the first president to take office with a pledge to reduce the size of government and make it more responsive to citizen needs. He has accomplished more to follow through on that pledge in less than a month in his second term than most presidents have at all.

The battle for government efficiency never has and never will come without a fight from the left wing, unions, socialists and bureaucrats themselves to maintain the status quo. They use government programs to make the people dependent on government programs.

No one questions the need for social service, national security and judicial programs; the issue is more of where you set the bar, how efficient you can be, and how much the taxpayers can afford. When times are good, government programs glide along on autopilot. But when the times get difficult, like now, you have but two choices – cut back on the spending or raise taxes.

The battle lines are drawn, the demonstrators are in the streets, the national media is decrying how the massive cutbacks will destroy the country.

But bureaucratic dependency is a lot like how the chronic use of drugs makes one dependent on the drugs. We have made ourselves hooked on bloated government and their programs of dependency.

Not all government programs are bad, and President Trump needs to use a scalpel and not a butcher knife to make the right cuts. But be sure to notice, who is doing the most doomsday yelling about the cuts and who would benefit the most by the bureaucratic gravy train continuing to role. Is it the people or the bureaucrats?

(Opinions expressed in Morning Observations are those of the author and not necessarily those of the ownership, management, staff or sponsors of Townsquare Media Tuscaloosa.)

Weather:

Some 3-plus inches of rain has fallen over the last 48 hours resulting in some issues along West Alabama tributaries. A River Flood Warning remains in effect for the Tombigbee River at the Bevill Lock and Dam affecting Sumter, Greene, and Pickens counties…There is also a warning for the Black Warrior River at Selden Lock and Dam affecting Marengo, Greene and Hale Counties.

The rain and storms are gone for a couple of days and Valetine's Day tomorrow should be nice. But a risk for severe weather returns late Saturday. There is an Enhanced (3 in 5) Risk for storms as early as 9:00pm Saturday night in West Alabama, ending in the early hours of Sunday. Threats include tornadoes and damaging, straight-line winds.

Read More: Next Round of Severe Weather in Alabama Includes Tornado Threat

The Forecast:

Get our free mobile app