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Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight
So what's the difference between you buying insurance and expecting your insurance company to fulfill the promise you paid them for should something befall your home that's too catostrpohic to pay for out of your own pocket vs. a state/state's residents sending tax money that fund FEMA and expecting FEMA to fulfill the promise to support them when something happens that's too catostrophic for them to handle?
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I mentioned I'm a states rights/responsibility kind of guy.
I look at the federal government - regardless of which party or who is in charge - and see incompetence. This is why I support a smaller federal government, and this is where GWBush has failed me. Sadly, the republicans are no longer the party of smaller government. I can't say the dems are either. I'd go libertarian if they didn't have primarily whackos as their candidates, but that's another story.
Scrooge mentions that no city can handle its own forced evacuation. How, then, are the feds to do it? The feds have no right to do it, and in fact weren't asked to help in the evacuation. I could be wrong - I have vague recollection that some help was requested 12 hours or so before it hit, but that's enough time? I would guess using the literally hundreds of busses might have been a good way to start helping those who couldn't get out. Yes, there was certainly traffic congestion trying to get out of NO, but there weren't people dying on the highways because they couldn't wait the traffic out.
The feds cannot be responsible nor expected to plan/prepare for the events can take place in any municipality. This is what local government is for. I believe that everything is managed - or at least should be - better at the local level.
Anyway, back to the GD quote -
The government is not an insurance agency. They have no obligation to protect me as an individual. There was a case a while ago - some may recall it, but I can't site the time period or even where - regarding a law suit of someone who had called 911, but the police didn't get there in time to prevent the crime. The supreme court, I believe - and again, it might have been an appeals court - ruled that the police force is not a private security force and cannot be expected nor required to be there in time to assist you in your time of need. There are broader implications of this rulig going across government.
And regarding the comparison to an insurance company, I would say the feds are acting a lot like one - bailing out a lot of people who would be losing everything. I don't think they are reneging on their commitment whatsoever.
While slow in response, the failure here was not on the part of the feds. It was on the part of the locals. Sure, I hope the next time they are faster, but I am not counting on it. Nor should anyone. It is a local responsibility.