The Big Teat

All around me I have heard talk about the devastation of New Orleans and the failure of the governments (local, state, and federal) to respond in a timely and appropriate fashion. In other words, people look at government not just as the authoritarian figure that tells us what we can and cannot do, trying to poke it's nose into all of our business. People have never seemed to like the masculine aspects of government. This disaster has shown that Americans also think of their governments as the mother. When things go wrong they expect the government to come sweeping in and make everything better. You know, apply some bandages, kiss some owies, and give you a big bowl of chicken noodle soup. And when the government didn't do that, people felt abandoned, orphaned.

Thus I maintain my position as an Anarchist. Reliance on organizations of any kind will lead to disaster. To the best of your ability, take responsibility for yourself. Those of us who can should help those of us who can't. We should have that as a natural instinct. Preservation of the tribe. For some reason or another, it has gotten washed away.

And now for some truly personal opinion. Those at the bottom end of the pay scale (95% of Americans) should donate time to the efforts. The rest should empty their bank accounts to support those doing the work. My $5.23 (adjusted for inflation in a post-disaster America).