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Relief workers and tons of supplies have been rolling into Western North Carolina since shortly after Helene hit, but if the most powerful body of politicians in the state had looked out for us, we would be much better off today than we are.

For many people, it isn’t easy to stand up to elected officials and demand accountability, but we must. We should be asking them, why did you let this happen? Why were we not important to you? Why should we let you give us lip service and expect us to genuflect to your arrival on the scene to survey the devastation and destruction?

Why did you take money meant for us and give it to someone else?

Since 1989, North Carolina has received $445 billion from FEMA for projects that build protection against flooding and natural disasters. However–and now comes the swampy underbelly–only 5 percent of that money was spent on the 25 counties that now have been declared a disaster area.

The North Carolina Legislature does not place a high value on the folks of Western North Carolina. Maybe that’s because we are a poorer part of the state. Maybe it’s because we are more sparsely populated than Charlotte, Raleigh and the sunny climes of the coastal areas. Maybe it’s because they know that no matter how they treat us, they still will be re-elected. Maybe it’s because they have reached a stage of entitlement, as so many elected officials reach after being in office for a few years.

But make no mistake, in my opinion, they don’t legislate for us. They make the rules based on the loudest voices and most money coming at them. That’s not us.

Over the past 15 years, North Carolina lawmakers have thumbed their noses at placing limits on construction on steep slopes, kowtowing instead to the state’s homebuilding industry. We don’t have enough money to convince our state Legislature to save lives by not allowing construction on the landslide-making slopes, but the homebuilding industry does.

And while they were in the mood to push us to the bottom of their list, the General Assembly also blocked a rule requiring homes be elevated above the height of an expected flood, weakened protection for wetlands, increasing the risk of water runoffs, and hogtied the adoption of updating building codes, making it harder for the state to qualify for federal climate-resilience grants.

Every bill to come before the Legislature to improve the safety and disaster survival ability of our people has been quashed.

The way we were squashed.

When Tim Moore, the speaker of the North Carolina House appeared before the Polk County Board of Commissioners last week, he said he had been visiting flood-ravaged areas and wanted to leave everyone with this message: “The North Carolina Legislature is going to do all it can” for you.

Just about everyone present genuflected to him.

Larry McDermott is a local retired farmer/journalist. Reach him at hardscrabblehollow@gmai.com