It is likely that thousands died in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina, while waiting nearly 5 days for a response from their government. This government response was pitiful — shameful even — and can, at best, be called a miserable failure.
The federal government has an entire agency devoted to responding to national emergencies. This agency is called the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and apparently it receives over $6 billion per year of our tax dollars. Six billion dollars a year. Six billion dollars a year to manage emergencies, and people are dying for 5 days before this emergency showed any signs of management.
The FEMA response to Katrina is getting absolutely slammed by the media, victims of the hurricane, and average citizens — and rightfully so. I am thrilled to see people finally demanding some accountability from their government, it is just unfortunate that it required such a disaster to make it happen.
I only hope that this outrage brings about the right type of change. It would be sad if the result is a 3 year study on “what went wrong” — followed by a tripling of FEMA’s funding. I truly believe that the “red tape” created by the current level of funding helped lead to the situation we are in today.
In order to successfully respond and manage emergency situations, it seems imperative that an organization be small, fast, able to respond quickly, with management and personnel empowered to make instant decisions. This can not happen in a six billion dollar bureaucracy, and hurricane Katrina was proof.
Is it even possible for our 2.5 trillion dollar government to create an agency that is capable of properly responding to such emergencies? With the government as it is today, I can’t see how. This federal government seems to fail and disappoint us in virtually everything that it undertakes. Are we sure that we want to trust these bureaucrats with such an important task as this?
Most people, even quite a few Libertarians, would argue that responding and managing natural disasters is exactly the type of thing the federal government should be doing. I will not argue with those who believe that. But can’t we agree that the entire government should be smaller, so that politicians can focus more on things like this that are truly important?
When is the last time the Senate conducted hearings on our disaster relief strategies? If Senators had been questioning the heads of FEMA instead of asking baseball players about steroids, could we have been more responsive? Could lives have been saved?
If Congressmen had been asking disaster readiness questions instead of adding pork to the recently passed $286 billion highway bill, could we have been more prepared? Could lives have been saved?
Our federal government is growing uncontrollably, expanding into areas it has no business. This seemingly endless expansion makes it even less efficient, taking focus away from the important things. How many lives could have been saved if the focus was where it belonged? Now is the time to stand up and hold these politicians accountable.
These statements paint a very accurate picture of our government and as a libertarian I to believe that the government should be smaller and concentrate on issues that have to do with the saftey of the people they are supposed to be looking out for.
Comment by mike — October 19, 2005 @ 10:07 pm
Stop this hurricane Katrina nonsense. People had 2 weeks to leave New Orleans. There’s no excuse for not evacuating a city that is a bowl surrounded by water except for laziness, stupidity or arrogance. They miscalculated and paid the price.
The federal government is not responsible for evacuating people. First, it’s an individual’s responsibility. Then, the city, then the state can assist.
How can that many people be so poor in the United States? Here in California, illegal immigrants work their ass off and help each other out. Within a few years they have cars and apartments.
You should discuss personal responsibility as a libertarian.
Comment by Enzo — February 7, 2006 @ 7:44 am
Enzo:
Why do people live in New Orleans? It is, as you said, a bowl surrounded by a very thin lip and lots of water. Would you live there? I wouldn’t, but then again, I also wouldn’t live on a known flood plain, near a beach, or in the lee of an active volcano. So why do people live in New Orleans if it’s such a crappy place to be when the weather gets bad?
Maybe it’s because government at all levels makes sure that New Orleans stays where it is and makes sure there are people there to keep it running? Maybe because all the smart responsible people left, and government had to make some deals to get people in, say like subsisidized housing, welfare, tax breaks, etc.?
It’s the same thing about living in a flood plain, or near the ocean - smart responsible people insure their homes against natural disasters, but oddly enough, no private corporate insurance company will insure you against floods. You have to get that from the feds. Insurance companies know that insuring a house ten miles from the Mississippi River for ANY amount is a fool’s bet - the river floods every year to some degree, and annual payouts for flood damage would cripple the company. So they decide not to take the risk, and people who wanted to build either did so at their own risk or built elsewhere. In comes the federal government saying, we’ll sell you flood insurance so you can move to that piece of crap land. People buy it, and your taxes pay for it every year when a river floods and wipes out another couple hundred homes.
I’ll agree with you that people in New Orleans should have had more responsibility and gotten out of there sooner. However, after Katrina had gone, what was the government response? There were private firms ready to move in with donated supplies (Wal-Mart alone had semis full of supplies), but they were blocked by the feds from moving in. People in the Superdome wanted to leave and were prohibited. Reporters exercising their first amendment rights were prohibited from doing so - citizens exercising their second amendment rights were disarmed.
To top it off, the non-responsible members of society were decrying “price gouging” as if they had never heard of “supply and demand” or “capitalism”, and actually were defending looting. When a commodity (hotel rooms, bottled water, blankets, etc.) becomes rare (supplt goes down) and the desire for the commodity increases (demand goes up), then the price for the commodity should increase. If I have ten bottles of water, and one hundred people want them, I can cut the demand down to a reasonable number by increasing the price for the water to whatever people are willing to pay. Once more bottled water comes into the area and the supply increases, then the price will go down because someone else may want to sell their water cheaper. Simple supply and demand economics - it’s how DeBeer’s keeps diamonds valuable, why gold is such a precious metal, and why responsible libertarians like myself and Danny and others are outnumbered 1000 to 1 by fascists and socialists.
How can there be so many poor in the U.S.? You mention illegals working their asses off and being prosperous. What do they have that citizens don’t? Or more to the point, what do they not have to do that we as citizens do? I’d say forking over 33% of their paycheck to income tax, FICA, and Social Security would be a good start - think how prosperous you could be if you had half again as much money in your paycheck as you do now. They get paid under the table, and usually in cash, and don’t have to pay taxes or report it, lest they get deported. They form tight-knit small communities and work together voluntarily to make sure the group prospers. Plus, they do the jobs Americans won’t - I have yet to hear any American complain because they can’t get a job picking tomatos or avocados somewhere…
–Jon
Comment by Jon — March 16, 2006 @ 7:02 pm
It’s because Big Gov is such a miserable failure, that I love what Dr. Kevin Peterson is doing!
You must check out his website (very tongue in cheek, but fun):
http://www.NoneoftheAboveforPresident.com
Way too cool!
Comment by Millie — May 12, 2006 @ 2:03 am
This storm took a turn at the last moment to make a direct hit. All over the country we take chances and put things off. looking back any fool wishes the walls were stronger. The true shame here is racism. How about people trying to evacuate and being held back at gunpoint. who really cares about the poor black people. we all talk and use excuses and spend money on jobs for the privledged but try being black and poor in this country.
Comment by Gary Finneran — October 29, 2007 @ 4:09 pm