United we stand, together we brawl Disasters used to bring the US together, now they expose the country's political faultlines I sometimes wonder what kind of country the US would become if conservative Republicans had their way. I pondered it more this week in the wake of the tornado that devastated Moore in Oklahoma, which happens to be one of the states where rightwing ideology is most firmly embedded. The one thing that has brought out the best in America is its response to natural disasters, at home or overseas. It always seemed that partisan divides vanished when catastrophe struck, wherever it happened. And all eyes turned to the federal government for help when it did because that was something that Washington could be quite good at (hurricane Katrina in New Orleans conspicuously excepted). That no longer seems to be the case, at least in the eyes of the Republican delegation from Oklahoma. Disasters are not a novel experience for the state - only Texas and California have required more assistance over the years - but all but one of its delegates, to be named later, voted against the $50bn package to help the US northeast after superstorm Sandy wrought such damage last year. Here are the words, verbatim, this week of Senator James Inhofe - who, not coincidentally, is the Senate's most fervent advocate of the belief that climate change is just another liberal conspiracy - when he compared Sandy to the Moore tornado. That was totally different. They were getting things - for instance, that was supposed to be in New Jersey, they had things in the Virgin Islands, they were fixing roads there, they were putting roofs on houses in Washington, DC, everybody was getting into exploiting the tragedy that was taking place. That won't happen in Oklahoma," Mr Inhofe said. That is a pretty bleak view of government and mankind. But it was shared in the Sandy vote by his Senate colleague, the far less Neanderthal Tom Coburn, who nonetheless was only willing to support disaster relief if offset by commensurate cuts in federal spending. It was repeated on the floor of the House of Representatives this week by local Congressman Frank Lucas, who intoned that disaster relief begins at home (ie, no big government needed) before, naturally, asking Congress to pray for the victims. And it was clearly shared by most Republicans from all over who shunned Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey, until then a plausible party presidential candidate in 2016, for having committed the cardinal sin of wrapping his arms around President Barack Obama and thanking him for the support and federal aid the state had received. Mr Christie's invitation to address the Conservative Political Action Conference, a gathering of the true believers, was promptly withdrawn. One wonders now what will happen to Congressman Tom Cole, whose district encompasses Moore and who was raised in the city. Always conservative but no ideologue, he voted in favour of Sandy relief, but was one of only 49 of 228 Republicans in the House to do so. Mr Obama called him immediately after the tornado and Mr Cole relayed the conversation. He was very kind and ticked off very quickly what assets were available. He said, you're going to have everything you need and if you have a problem just call me directly at the White House. It was an exceptionally kind, thoughtful and gracious call," Mr Cole said. Mr Cole is not thinking of running for president, which, bearing in mind what happened to Mr Christie, is just as well. It is also a great pity that his party did not listen to what he had to say on the House floor during the Sandy debate. After recalling Oklahoma's history of tornado and drought afflictions and the federal help it had received, Mr Cole went on: "It would be hypocritical, in my view, to fail to do for people in the affected region what I and, I know, many others have routinely asked for people in their own regions." Hypocrisy is the least of it. Republican hatred of Mr Obama is a dark factor in today's political equation, illustrated by a vicious opinion piece in The Washington Post this week by Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader, which as good as accused the president of being a leftwing thug, with his own "enemies list," "speech police" and other elements of intimidation. So is rampant regionalism, as if the rest of the country, especially the US northeast and the west coast, were populated by aliens. New York and its environs, not to mention California, are often seen as Sodoms and Gomorrahs. Reverend Pat Robertson once said that New York brought September 11 2001 on itself by its godless ways. Now Mayor Michael Bloomberg of the Big Apple is trying to take away America's guns. It is becoming harder to see America as one country, though presidents must say it is, but disasters used to bring it together. It is extremely sad that may no longer be the case.