Fighting Fire with Tea?

According to Reuters,

Texas Gov. Rick Perry sought additional federal help in battling wildfires across his drought-parched state as a woodland blaze gutted at least six homes on Sunday and threatened hundreds more in Austin, the state capital.

An estimated 1.5 million acres of tinder-like brush and grasslands have gone up in flames in Texas since January 1, about half of that during the past week alone under some of the driest conditions in Texas history.

Some 220 homes in all have been lost, according to a letter released on Sunday from Perry to President Barack Obama requesting a federal disaster declaration...

On the surface, this is NOT extraordinary news. This is wildfire season and federal aid can come in handy in trying to combat the fires. However, as was pointed out at TruthDig,

It wasn’t so long ago that Gov. Rick Perry threatened to secede from the Union. Now he’s appealing directly to the White House for federal aid? So maybe the federal government isn’t always bad? Gosh darn it, what’s a Tea Partier to think?

There is the rub. While the idea of shrinking government may have a nice rhetorical ring, the very same politicians (and citizens) who call for it often turn to the federal government in times of genuine need.

The worst part of this sort of situation is that the contradiction is often lost on them. They seem unable or unwilling to connect the dots!