Americans are Getting a Crash Course in What Civics and Governance is All About
“The country has to awaken every now and then to the fact that the people are responsible for the government they get...” Harry Truman
Are Harry Truman’s Words “Ringing True” for You?
“…And when they elect a man to the presidency who doesn’t take care of the job, they’ve got nobody to blame but themselves.” Harry Truman
Even if you didn’t sleep through most of your high school civics class, it’s a safe bet that you, along with many Americans, are being whip sawed by American politics today. Whether or not you think our current president is, to paraphrase former President Truman’s words, “taking care of the job of president,” it is almost impossible to notice the impact your government is, or is not, having on you since Donald Trump began his second term as our president. Much of that impact comes from what you expect of your government compared to what your current federal government intends to provide you as a U.S. citizen.
Civics at Its Most Basic Level
The civics education I’m focused on here is far more than simply knowing a few basics about the structure and functions of U.S. government. Basics such as that we have three supposedly co-equal branches of government and they function (again, supposedly) to provide checks and balances on each other. The civics’ education focus here is even more fundamental that that. It asks- what is government, what is government’s intended and desired purposes, and how is our government exercising this thing called “governance”?
Are We Being Awakened Yet?
For those of us in Texas, the events in the Hill Country involving the July 4th extreme rainfall event which caused crushing flash flooding on the Guadalupe River (the Guadelupe) is causing us to ask those questions as to government’s purposes and how they square up with our expectations. With the latest death toll at over 130 and 97 people still missing as of the writing, these questions as to what we should reasonably expect of and from our government are legitimate questions for all Americans to ask. The heart break of these deaths and missing persons includes the fact that many were children and teens attending and working at summer camps located along the Guadelupe. The summer youth camps, recreational camping, tubing, and other water related activities that the Guadelupe provides, infuses millions of dollars into the area’s economy.
It’s especially relevant to ask questions post-emergency as analysis begins as to what actually happened, when it happened, and why so many died and have gone missing with so little warning. And all these questions must be asked within the current reality of the context of the Trump Administration’s DOGE directed cutbacks of employees in federal agencies, including the National Weather Service which has experienced staffing shortages nationwide, including in Texas. But again, the questions remain- what do we expect of and from our government, and why did such a clear failure of government of these proportions occur during this emergency?
And let’s not forget that these extreme weather events are not happening only in Texas. They are happening throughout the nation, whether in North Carolina, Kentucky, Florida, or California, or wherever massive emergency events have occurred which have caused death, injury, emotional trauma, and destruction of property. For that reason alone, it behooves us to ask what do we expect of our government? Has what our government delivered to its citizens met our expectations? Or if not, has something changed?
Something Has Indeed Changed
Certainly, excepting in diverse urban ”big city” counties like Harris and Dallas, it’s still accurate to characterize Texas as a whole to be a politically conservative society. This is particularly true in Texas’ rural counties like Kerr County where the July 4th Guadelupe River flash flood disaster unfolded. Most Texans want good, but not expensive, government. There’s a constant “push and pull” by state and local elected officials in terms of public policy decision making as they prepare and approve annual operating budgets to fund what they believe are only the most basic of government services like police, roads, and jails.
This in turn creates a constant tension to adequately fund state and local government, but to always do so in deference to one rigid parameter above all others- to keep taxes as low as possible. Not just low, but rock bottom low. So low in fact, that as we shall see, for some counties funding things like emergency warning systems is not seen as a “must have,” but as a “nice to have.” Good to have, but not essential in the grand scheme of things.
Still, even with that as a backdrop, it would be hard to create a convincing argument that Texans living here today, as well as those visiting Kerr and surrounding counties over the July 4th holiday, would have expected such a slow and sporadic emergency response in the midst of a disaster of this magnitude. As the facts about the flash flood event emerge, it is clear that with this massive rainfall event, local, state, and federal governments were woefully unprepared.
Their ability to protect those living, camping, and vacationing along the Guadelupe by providing adequate warning was, on a scale, somewhere between minimal to non-existent. While the warning and rescue response during the early morning hours of July 4th were heroic at many levels, especially at the local (i.e., city and county) level, the emergency response could hardly be characterized as adequate or timely. That’s because it wasn’t. The warning that first responders, residents, and visitors along the Guadelupe received that night was too little, too late, and tragically, deadly for many.
What has Changed is Called “Governance”
In all this, the big picture emerges as to failures of government that combined to create an environment conducive for a disaster like this to be so deadly. In 2016, Kerr County Commissioners discussed a siren warning system for the Guadelupe, but chose not to pursue it while neighboring counties did. The state government made decisions in its 2025 Legislative Session not to approve House Bill 13 which would have established a grant program to help counties build new emergency communication infrastructure, or in other words, warning systems that include sirens. The federal government has been receiving constant criticism since July 4th for what many consider to be their snail-like response to provide disaster assistance through its Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to Texas state and local governments along the Guadelupe. In fact, prior to the Guadelupe flash flood, the Trump Administration made no secret of its desire and intent to disband, or in the least, remake FEMA.
These were not just failures of all three levels of government (local, state, and federal), they were failures of the most important function of these three levels of government- governance. Failure to effectively govern. What do we mean by this powerful term “governance”?
Governance Defined
Governance is how government is implemented. In this case, governance in Kerr County and dealing with this flash flooding falls into the category of protecting the public’s health, safety and welfare.
The International Bureau of Education’s (IBE) defines governance as the “…structures and processes that are designed to ensure accountability, transparency, responsiveness, rule of law, stability and inclusiveness, empowerment, and broad-based participation. Governance also represents the norms, values and rules of the game through which public affairs are managed in a manner that is transparent, participatory, inclusive and responsive.”
The Institute on Governance (IOG), governance’s says this about governance:
“…Governance determines who has power, who makes decisions, how other players make their voice heard and how account is rendered (emphasis mine). Governance is how society or groups with it, organize to make decisions.” (emphasis mine)
How to Determine When Governance is Good
The key to good governance is how it is carried out. The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has identified five principles of good governance that have transferability to all levels and types of government. They are:
· Participation- do all men and women have a voice in decision making and is this participation broad based and built on freedom of speech and association?
· Direction- do leaders and the public have strategic vision, that is a broad and long-term perspective on good governance and human development along with a sense of what is needed for such development? This strategic direction should reflect an understanding of the historical, cultural, and social complexities in which that perspective is grounded.
· Performance- are the institutions and processes serving all stakeholders in a responsive way and are effective and efficient? i.e., do they produce results that meet needs while making the best use of resources?
· Accountability- is there transparency based on the free-flow of information? Are decision makers accountable to the public?
· Fairness- is there equity whereby all men and women have opportunities to improve or maintain their well-being? Is the rule of law in place and followed? Are legal frameworks fair and enforced impartially? Is there justice for all?
When Governance Goes Bad
Obviously, when all or some of these characteristics are absent, governance quality begins to go decline. It’s citizens lose faith in it. Perhaps not those in the majority, but those in the minority that believe they are not being heard and their views are not being considered. When that happens, those citizens begin to see their government as exercising poor governance.
How this plays out can take different paths. Governance quality declines when there is no shared strategic vision between government’s elected officials and it citizens. The same applies to whether or not there are shared values as to the purpose of government in terms of the services it provides, or does not provide, to its citizens. A government’s approach to governance loses broad citizen support when it is viewed as having a very narrow view of who its stakeholders and its constituency are. That is, when government is seen as committed to serving only those who supported it at election time. Poor governance often lacks a meaningful policy agenda that takes seriously policies that serve the common good as opposed to a small group or special interests.
Bad Governance is Key to Understanding the Flash Floods Disaster in Kerr County, Texas
Governance has everything to do with what we have seen play out in Kerr County, Texas since July 4th. We have seen it play out in natural disaster events in other places in the nation as well. What we have seen in Kerr County, Texas since the Guadelupe River’s flash floods is bad governance in action. And those who are suffering from it live and have visited there.
When a government views it’s primary stakeholders only being property owners, as opposed to both residents and visitors, and its strategic vision as well as its primary purpose is seen by elected officials as only to provide very basic services at the lowest cost possible (i.e., low taxes), seeing what happened here begins to gain clarity. Comprehending that limited view of governance and who Kerr County is serving begins to explain why there was not a siren warning system along the Guadelupe River in Kerr County as of July 2025.
That warning system was seen from a governance perspective as not being Kerr County’s purview to provide. In fact, in 2021 Kerr County received over $10 million in federal funding, part of which was for such a siren warning system. The money was accepted by the County, but none of it used for the siren warning system.[1] Add to a State government at in its last legislative session decided not to provide State funding for such warning systems. Further, add to that a federal government that provided an anemic response to the disaster as it unfolded, and seems to under the Trump Administration, not to view that the federal government has a significant role in emergency response to disasters.
Those governance “ingredients” from all three levels of government, local, state, and federal, combine to create a “perfect storm” of bad governance. Bad governance that created tunnel vision as to government’s roles and responsibility that self-inhibited government’s ability to proactively pursue reducing the risk of death and destruction in a river basin known as “flash flood alley” before flooding events occur, not after.
Good governance is really fundamental to a good quality of life, but most importantly, a quality of life that protects the public’s safety. Maybe this topic of good governance, as well as what Americans should reasonably to expect from their government in the way of governance, will become a focus in counties and communities across the nation. Government everywhere, not just Kerr County, Texas, owes its citizens that much.
Notes:
The Soul of America, The Battle for Our Better Angels, by Jon Meachum, pg. 265, Copyright 2018, Ibid
Texas flood death toll rises to 131 as new storms loom | Reuters
Would flood sirens have saved lives in Texas? : NPR
Bill to boost disaster warning systems died in Legislature | The Texas Tribune
Noem fights criticism of FEMA management in Texas flood response - POLITICO
What we know about FEMA elimination plans : NPR
Concept of Governance, International Bureau of Education, www.ibe.unesco.org/en/geqaf/technical-notes/concept-governance
Defining, Governance, Institute on Governance, Ibid
[1] Flooded Texas County Turned Down Funds for Warning System From Biden Admin in 2021: 'We Don't Want to Be Bought'