Because ours is one of a handful of states that will determine the outcome of the 2024 presidential election, Georgia voters have been bombarded with so many ads and speeches that many Georgia voters have become numb to issues that often seem unrelated to their daily lives. But on Sept. 26, that all changed when there was a very real threat to the lives, property and livelihoods of millions of people in Georgia and surrounding states.
As predicted by the National Hurricane Center, Hurricane Helene hit the coast of Florida near Tallahassee late Thursday night and spent the next two days bringing massive destruction on a 600-mile path through Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Tennessee. More than 130 people have already been confirmed dead, and damages are predicted to exceed $100 billion.
Credit: Contributed
Credit: Contributed
These cold statistics don’t begin to tell the complete story of the damage caused by this powerful storm. Entire towns were wiped off the map. Roads and bridges were destroyed or severely damaged. Power was disrupted for millions of customers, and some might be without electrical service indefinitely. Businesses — large and small — were leveled, leaving many people with no source of income. This was a monumental storm whose impact will be felt for years.
Happening, as it did, amid a presidential campaign, Helene should call attention to significant differences between the two major presidential candidates over the causes and responses to catastrophic weather events.
Vice President Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party recognize that weather events like these will continue to become more frequent and cause more damage because of the effects of climate change. Harris calls climate change “an existential threat” and says the United States needs to act urgently to address it. “The science is clear,” she says. “Extreme weather will only get worse, and the climate crisis will only accelerate.”
Former President Donald Trump, on the other hand, has declared that climate change is a “Chinese hoax” and recently made the absurd claim that “the oceans in 500 years will raise a quarter of an inch.” He made this remark despite hard scientific evidence that the oceans are currently rising by 0.14 inches each year, which would be 70 inches or nearly six feet in 500 years — and that assumes action is taken to keep the rate of ice melting from increasing.
And it isn’t just Trump who denies the importance of climate change. The Republican Party’s Project 2025 playbook advises future Republican presidents to “eradicate climate change references from absolutely everywhere” to end a supposed government effort to “control people.”
Although 97% of climate scientists agree that humans are a significant cause of climate change, Trump and his party want to take no action. In fact, they continue to argue that humans have no effect on climate change, in spite of all the scientific evidence to the contrary.
But the differences between the two parties and their candidates go well beyond climate change denial. They include differences over basic issues such as the federal government’s role in tracking and predicting storms and in helping victims recover from them.
One of the reasons there isn’t even greater loss of life from storms like Helene is due to the excellent forecasting from the National Hurricane Center, which is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Project 2025 accuses NOAA of “climate alarmism” and calls for it to be “broken up and downsized.” Voters should ask themselves whether this “downsizing” could lead to less accurate forecasts and warnings to people in the path of such storms.
There are also significant differences in policy over disaster response. Given the extent of the damage from Helene, there will likely be many thousands of businesses and homeowners who will need assistance to get back on their feet. Small Business Administration loans will help owners of small businesses get back in business. And the Federal Emergency Management Agency will provide cash assistance to individuals for immediate needs like shelter and repairs. Democrats support keeping these programs in place, but Project 2025 calls for the elimination of direct loans from the SBA and a reduction in FEMA’s assistance programs.
Victims of Helene’s wrath who will depend on federal assistance to help in their recovery, as well as all Georgians who understand the importance of federal agencies and programs at times like these, should remember which presidential candidate and party believe in a strong federal response to natural disasters and which would reduce the amount of federal assistance when people are in great need.
Lee Raudonis, a former high school American history and government teacher, worked with Republican Paul Coverdell in the Georgia Senate and at the United States Peace Corps. He also served as the executive director of the Georgia Republican Party in 1988.
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