When I write these days, it is often as an old man. I have seen a lot of life, up close and personal. I still know a lot of people who run toward danger when most folks are running away.
This year, there is an awful lot of talk about things government should and should not be doing for people. When you are sitting around in a suit and tie or walking into some climate controlled assembly hall, it is easy to talk about people doing things for themselves.
When you've been places where even the strongest and the best are challenged to do for themselves, you learn things about people.
That was the chaos that followed Hurricane Katrina in 2005. People literally saw everything they owned washed away. Cars, houses, clothing, everything.
The aftermath of that tragedy puts the lie to liberterian ideals. One cannot expect government to do the minimum in times when many people are exhausted and have only God and their last strength to fall back on.
When you see despair in people's faces, and total surrender in the faces of the old and sick, civilized people look to authority for providence and benevolence. If government is to have any authority at all, it must be ready and able to step in with material aid when God may want men and women to depend upon each other.
In 2005, government was more than a wee bit late. The private sector cut its losses and looked to insurance companies to make them whole, and tens of thousands of people looked to government for help.
Believe me, it was chaos, not just in Lousiana, but across the country. Lots of people who had nothing spent their last change to make calls for help. After fumbling the call, the government dispatched a lot of debit cards, wrote a lot of checks and made a lot of direct deposits.
In the chaos, lots of money changed hands and some of it needed to be sorted out later.
Well, after seven years, it has been sorted out, Some people-- no, tens of thousands of people owe thousands of dollars. They are not crooks. They were people up against it. In a time of chaos they took the aid they were offered and took as much of the aid as they could possibly get.
Today, the Federal Emergency Management Agency announced that those who owe less than about $4,300
will have their debts waived. Yes it is taxpayer's money, but it is money that even after seven years, many of the victims, have not seen since.
In many ways, what happened with natural disasters in 2005, set the stage for the economic disaster that began two years later. The government was again, asleep at the switch, At a time when people needed and looked toward authority for help and guidance, some good people were silent.
Now, we need them all to care and understand.
This year, there is an awful lot of talk about things government should and should not be doing for people. When you are sitting around in a suit and tie or walking into some climate controlled assembly hall, it is easy to talk about people doing things for themselves.
When you've been places where even the strongest and the best are challenged to do for themselves, you learn things about people.That was the chaos that followed Hurricane Katrina in 2005. People literally saw everything they owned washed away. Cars, houses, clothing, everything.
The aftermath of that tragedy puts the lie to liberterian ideals. One cannot expect government to do the minimum in times when many people are exhausted and have only God and their last strength to fall back on.
When you see despair in people's faces, and total surrender in the faces of the old and sick, civilized people look to authority for providence and benevolence. If government is to have any authority at all, it must be ready and able to step in with material aid when God may want men and women to depend upon each other.
In 2005, government was more than a wee bit late. The private sector cut its losses and looked to insurance companies to make them whole, and tens of thousands of people looked to government for help.
Believe me, it was chaos, not just in Lousiana, but across the country. Lots of people who had nothing spent their last change to make calls for help. After fumbling the call, the government dispatched a lot of debit cards, wrote a lot of checks and made a lot of direct deposits.
In the chaos, lots of money changed hands and some of it needed to be sorted out later.
Well, after seven years, it has been sorted out, Some people-- no, tens of thousands of people owe thousands of dollars. They are not crooks. They were people up against it. In a time of chaos they took the aid they were offered and took as much of the aid as they could possibly get.
Today, the Federal Emergency Management Agency announced that those who owe less than about $4,300
will have their debts waived. Yes it is taxpayer's money, but it is money that even after seven years, many of the victims, have not seen since.
In many ways, what happened with natural disasters in 2005, set the stage for the economic disaster that began two years later. The government was again, asleep at the switch, At a time when people needed and looked toward authority for help and guidance, some good people were silent.
Now, we need them all to care and understand.
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