The reason the South is hobbled by the winter weather is kinda the same reason we were hobbled by the pandemic - GOP politicians refuse to spend money preparing for something that only *might* happen.

Like yes, you could take out the actuarial tables and explain to them that blizzards, like pandemics, are *inevitable* on a long enough timeline. That spending the money on plow trucks, salt, preparedness plans, is a good idea. But will it happen between now and an election?

Because preparing for inevitable disasters pays off later. Eliminating government agencies, selling off public assets, diminishing staff, and cancelling preparedness drills so that you can deliver on a campaign promise to lower taxes will pay of *right now.*

Small-government advocates are all over the country gambling that horrible disasters won't happen while they're in office. Our water system is so old that in some parts of the country the pipes are literally made of WOOD. But updating that would cost money, so.

Every year California has to cut power to thousands every time there's a heat wave because Republicans made sure to privatize the power infrastructure and it starts forest fires if anybody looks at it funny, because they know the Democrats in the Governor's office will get blamed

Texas could have had stuff in place to prepare for this. It's not like road salt goes bad. They certainly have enough pickup trucks they could outfit with plows. But that would require spending money in advance, and acknowledging global warming is real.