Maybe Hurricane Ian taught Florida’s DeSantis an American lesson: United is in the name

Hurricane Ian ripped through much of Florida last week and delivered more than wide swaths of devastation. It also sent a message to Gov. Ron DeSantis, along with the rest of the nation, that being part of this country comes with responsibility to your fellow citizens. When disaster strikes, the rest of the country, and its federal government, pitches in because that’s the best of America. United is in the name.

It was a lesson in which he apparently needed a reminder. Just two weeks ago, DeSantis showed no concern for the well being of others when he used vulnerable human beings as pawns in a widely criticized stunt in which he dumped two plane loads of mostly Venezuelan asylum-seekers in Massachusetts’s Martha’s Vineyard.

He’s not happy with the Biden administration’s border policies and wanted to give non-border states a taste of Florida’s immigration challenges.

But when Ian, a Category 4 storm with sustained winds of up to 150 mph, prepared to slam into Florida last week, DeSantis wasted no time in asking Biden to declare every county in the Sunshine State a federal disaster site. And he welcomed the hundreds of FEMA trucks and rescue teams rolling south.

No doubt the aid was desperately needed. With the storm moving across Florida to the Atlantic, and then north toward the Carolinas, the casualty toll was expected to be high. Millions lost power, high water flooded streets and roared through towns downing trees, washing away vehicles and homes. Fierce winds flattened whole neighborhoods.

Because Americans always respond generously in these situations, DeSantis knew he could count on help from all over. From Missouri and Kansas to New York and Massachusetts, states across the country rushed to help in any way they could. President Biden immediately issued emergency declarations and ordered federal aid to Florida, including funds, equipment, food and labor.

Meeting adversity with action is what we do as Americans. It’s woven into our cultural fabric, even if it’s sometimes difficult to discern the frayed threads of decency of late amid so much uncivil discourse and behavior.

DeSantis was right to request aid, but then so too were his critics in New York and New Jersey, who noted that less than a decade ago when DeSantis was a newly elected Florida congressman, he voted against providing $9.7 billion in flood insurance aid for victims of Hurricane Sandy which left more than 200 people dead.

The difference between a helping hand, and a handout is whether you are willing to pull others up with you. The citizens of Florida are lucky then, that there are not too many like DeSantis elsewhere in the U.S., otherwise they might find the assistance they need now less than forthcoming.

Whether it be a storm or drought, tornado, pandemic, wildfire, or crumbling infrastructure, crises such as those caused by Hurricane Ian do not discriminate on the basis of political party. Nor can we, as Americans, afford to discriminate in the actions with which we meet those adversities.

Lives are at stake, as is our future and character as a nation.

A good leader understands that the glue that binds our 50 states together. We help our fellow citizens in crisis, not just because they need it but because we will likely need a helping hand someday too.

Let’s hope that message has been learned.