It does sound flippant, but that's not the point. A situation like "everyone wants to use this disaster to achieve the policy goals they wanted anyway," while a

It does sound flippant, but that's not the point. A situation like "everyone wants to use this disaster to achieve the policy goals they wanted anyway," while a slight exaggeration, might productively lead a person interested in the function of their government to evaluate the quality of those policy goals, rather than withdraw into cynicism. In an election year, it'd actually be somewhat appropriate. > If you started out thinking that your ideology is clearly correct and the opposition has nefarious motives, then rather than this disaster leading anyone to question their beliefs, it will stand to reinforce them. If you're the kind of person who gives a damn about "motives" instead of ideas and policies, well... it is understandable at times, but that's not something to aspire to.