Republicans’ Pretzel Logic

To the Editor:

Re “Reality: America Isn’t Conservative,” [Aug. 27-Sept. 3]:

Karl Rove’s departure from the Bush administration brings to mind the lessons of the Katrina disaster.

Politically, the most important lesson may have been that the conservative mistrust of government is a self-feeding beast.

They begin with the assumption that government agencies don’t work. Going on this assumption, they believe that it doesn’t matter who they hire to run the agencies, so why not give the positions to their friends, regardless of qualification or, more to the point, lack thereof, so they can feed at the federal trough?

Then, when the services of these agencies are required and they come up lacking because of the incompetence of those appointees, they point to the failure and say, “See, we were right! These agencies don’t work!”

It is difficult to say which of the qualities on display in this process is most repugnant: the cynicism, the callousness or the greed.

Marc Beschler
Manhattan