Opinion.
In a recent interview with Fox News, President Donald Trump criticized the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Trump rightly emphasized the importance of allowing states to take the lead in disaster response efforts as he brought up a decentralized alternative that would allow states to handle emergencies locally.
What a novel idea! This is the angle Libertarians have been proposing for decades. Disaster relief is a critical requirement for effective local governance.
The Governor’s Grievances
Hawaii’s governor, Josh Green quickly responded in various news outlets including a Hawaii News Now article where he calls the President’s words an “absurd attack”:
“Without FEMA and the expertise and the billions of dollars that they brought to us, we would have had thousands of additional homeless individuals,” Green said. “We would have not been able to structure our recovery in a thoughtful way. (Governor Josh Green)”
Governor Green admits to the inability of the state of Hawaii to handle a natural disaster, stating that the results would have been even worse under his authority. Keep in mind the context: under Trump’s proposal, better funding could theoretically be available to the states for their management, rather than being centrally managed by the Federal Govermemnt. Is Josh Green admitting that the Hawaii State Government is incompetent to protect its own citizens from a natural disaster?
Is Dr. Josh Green using his administration's failures as a reason to support being governed by foreign bureaucrats, all while using our tax money to make frivolous attacks on the incoming administration in our name?
According to a federal report, homelessness in Hawaii rose 87% in the last year following the Maui wildfires. Green is saying this number would have been even higher without FEMA’s fumbled response.
In one regard, he could be right, but if so, that is a sad state of affairs. It means Josh Green’s administration is at peace with the fact that they cannot provide the most basic and essential of government services. Over-reliance on federal aid has replaced the independent state preparedness model. States have become far too dependent on federal-level responses which has led to an erosion of local humanitarian efforts and community resilience. This more centralized approach has devastated the sense of local responsibility, self-sufficiency, and collective support that are the natural result of effective disaster response at the grassroots level. In short, the common aloha of yesterday has been altogether replaced by a cold and inefficient federal bureaucracy.
Solution: Self-Sufficiency
Only Locals are uniquely equipped with personal insight into our own culture, infrastructure, and social challenges, making us well-positioned to deliver swift and compassionately tailored responses to disasters in our community. Recent disasters like Lahaina have repeatedly shown us how local responses are always superior to federal bureaucracy. We have seen how tragically unhelpful the federal responses can be, and how profoundly they fail at their most basic missions. The lesson we should have learned from Lahaina is that no one is coming to save us: it’s up to our own local communities to come together in a disaster. Josh Green should have learned this lesson better than anyone, but apparently, he feels no responsibility for his failures - and instead proffers them as a reason to let us be dependent and neglectfully ruled by foreigners overseas.
This discussion should be fueling a drive in our governor and in our communities to find self-sufficient solutions. By decentralizing disaster responses, Hawaii’s island communities could leverage their proximity to affected areas and their nuanced understanding of local needs to facilitate quicker and more effective relief.
Do you remember those local volunteers and boaters who risked everything to deliver real aid to real people in Lahaina, actually saving lives, while FEMA was actively trying to stop them and confiscate the aid? FEMA's struggle to effectively manage disasters such as Hurricanes Helene and Milton, along with the Maui wildfires, has unveiled a pattern of call center issues, staffing challenges, and difficulties in providing timely assistance to survivors. Worse still, locals have been told in many states they cannot help their neighbors without getting FEMA approval. The Maui wildfires, in particular, serve as a poignant example of government failure during emergency situations.
Acknowledging these shortcomings and addressing these systemic issues with tailored, state-level solutions is essential to having a more effective, individualized, and agile disaster response framework.
Ask yourself - is this even leadership?
And where are his real critics anyway? Hawaii’s media outlets refrain from “making waves”, and as a result, the problems and corruption have festered behind the scenes for years. So where are all the other critics? It’s a mystery.
If Hawaii becomes actively engaged in managing the disasters that impact themselves personally, they will be empowered to develop proactive strategies for preparedness, response, and recovery. Perhap’s that is what worries Hawaii’s governor the most.
~ Written by Abbra Green & Austin Martin
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