Shots Across The Bow

It wasn't Just the Levees that Failed.

Now I'm going to take some heat for pointing this out, but can you think of any other instance in American history where so many people were so totally helpless? We've had massive storms and flooding before. The Mississippi floods several years back springs to mind. And every few years we get massive blizzards that isolate folks in the northern states for days, even weeks. The Northridge and Loma Prieta earthquakes in California caused incredible amounts of damage and disrupted infrastructure for months.

And in none of these cases did we see the helplessness on the part of the citizens and incompetence on the part of the local government that we saw in New Orleans. So, why the difference?

I have a theory.

It's the corrosive nature of the entitlement mentality. When you expect your government to take care of your every need, you slowly lose all initiative. You stop trying to do for yourself because it's easier to let somebody else do it for you. And if that somebody else falls apart, as happened during and after Katrina, you're totally helpless.

I know, I know, I'm blaming the victims, how could I be so hard hearted and cruel, don't I have any compassion at all?

Yes, I do. But I know that if I lived in New Orleans, and there was a mud filled derelict car in my yard left over from a hurricane that went through a year ago, I'd find a way to move it. And I'd probably help out my neighbors with the cars in their yards. Instead of waiting for the city government to come up with a plan to move thousands of cars, I'd take care of the ones around me. That's how things get done, by people taking care of themselves.

Posted by Rich at August 30, 2006 12:00 AM | TrackBack