"We are talking about predictable recurring flooding"
About this Quote
Predictable recurring flooding is a bureaucratic phrase with a moral accusation tucked inside it. Robert A. Brady, speaking as a politician, isn’t describing weather; he’s describing a failure of governance that’s so routine it has become a line item. “Predictable” is the dagger: it implies foreknowledge, data, warnings, maps, grant applications, and postponed votes. If the damage keeps happening, it’s not an “act of God” so much as an act of budgeting.
The compactness matters. “We are talking about” signals a fight over attention - an attempt to pin the conversation to material reality when public debate wants to drift toward spectacle, short-term outrage, or partisan abstraction. “Recurring” adds a second layer of indictment: not only do we know it’s coming, we’ve watched it arrive before, and the political system has still treated each event like an unfortunate surprise. It’s a rebuke of the disaster-news cycle, where urgency spikes during the storm and evaporates when the cameras leave.
Contextually, the line sits at the intersection of climate risk, aging infrastructure, and environmental justice. Repeated flooding is rarely distributed evenly; it tends to punish the same neighborhoods over and over, often the ones with the least leverage. Brady’s intent is to convert “natural disaster” into “policy problem,” because policy problems can justify federal money, regulatory pressure, and accountability. The subtext is blunt: if it’s predictable, then someone chose not to prevent it.
The compactness matters. “We are talking about” signals a fight over attention - an attempt to pin the conversation to material reality when public debate wants to drift toward spectacle, short-term outrage, or partisan abstraction. “Recurring” adds a second layer of indictment: not only do we know it’s coming, we’ve watched it arrive before, and the political system has still treated each event like an unfortunate surprise. It’s a rebuke of the disaster-news cycle, where urgency spikes during the storm and evaporates when the cameras leave.
Contextually, the line sits at the intersection of climate risk, aging infrastructure, and environmental justice. Repeated flooding is rarely distributed evenly; it tends to punish the same neighborhoods over and over, often the ones with the least leverage. Brady’s intent is to convert “natural disaster” into “policy problem,” because policy problems can justify federal money, regulatory pressure, and accountability. The subtext is blunt: if it’s predictable, then someone chose not to prevent it.
Quote Details
| Topic | Nature |
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