Gov. Rick Perry, the champion of smaller federal government, elimination of Social Security, and all sorts of other fun things is complaining that the federal government is slow in responding to Texas’ fire problem. Maybe he should complain to Eric Cantor, or to to John Boehner…. or to himself:

Perry and other Republican lawmakers have recently argued that federal disaster relief — such as aid for states hit by tornadoes and hurricanes — must be offset by federal spending cuts, but they have yet to make that argument in fire-ravaged Texas. The state recently cut funding for volunteer fire departments by 75% as a cost-saving measure.

FEMA’s budget got chopped by budget negotiations, and by debt ceiling wrangling. And then along came tornadoes, and Irene, and more rain and flooding and natural disasters, and some fires in Texas that budget-reduced firefighters couldn’t control. And now Perry is trying to turn the Texas fires into a Katrina moment for Obama.

Good luck with that, Rick.

In fact, good luck to everyone. Because since state and local governments across the country are on the precipice thanks to the recession and aided by a decade of fighting wars while cutting taxes, the whole country is running the risk of looking like the South Bronx circa 1982. No wonder fundamentalists keep talking about the Rapture– they’re ready to get the hell out of here before what was sowed by right-wing ideology is reaped.