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An Unnatural Disaster: A Man-made Disaster Exposed

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An Unnatural Disaster: A Hurricane Exposes the Man-Made Disaster of the Welfare State

by Robert Tracinski

Sep 02, 2005

It has taken four long days for state and federal officials to figure out how to deal with the disaster in New Orleans. I can't blame them, because it has also taken me four long days to figure out what is going on there. The reason is that the events there make no sense if you think that we are confronting a natural disaster.

If this is just a natural disaster, the response for public officials is obvious: you bring in food, water, and doctors; you send transportation to evacuate refugees to temporary shelters; you send engineers to stop the flooding and rebuild the city's infrastructure. For journalists, natural disasters also have a familiar pattern: the heroism of ordinary people pulling together to survive; the hard work and dedication of doctors, nurses, and rescue workers; the steps being taken to clean up and rebuild.

Public officials did not expect that the first thing they would have to do is to send thousands of armed troops in armored vehicle, as if they are suppressing an enemy insurgency. And journalists--myself included--did not expect that the story would not be about rain, wind, and flooding, but about rape, murder, and looting.

But this is not a natural disaster. It is a man-made disaster.

The man-made disaster is not an inadequate or incompetent response by federal relief agencies, and it was not directly caused by Hurricane Katrina. This is where just about every newspaper and television channel has gotten the story wrong.

The man-made disaster we are now witnessing in New Orleans did not happen over the past four days. It happened over the past four decades. Hurricane Katrina merely exposed it to public view.

The man-made disaster is the welfare state...

The full article is at:

http://tiadaily.com/php-bin/news/showArticle.php?id=1026

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I was pointing out that the "entitlements" mentality was to blame for the looting to my friends all day. Most of them agreed with me.

Sometimes, when the nature of the demon is exposed for all to see, people refuse to do business with it any longer. It would be a pity that THIS was how it had to be done, but if the evils of the welfare state start to sink in with people, it will hopefully start to be a good thing.

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By itself? No. I don't think Katrina is going to be a magic wand to wave over the screwed up economy. I think it's an opening for people to TALK ABOUT the evils of the welfare state, to make new proposals, to POINT AT definite events. It is THIS activity that is most beneficial in the long run.

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Megan, do you really think that this event is going to have any effect on the entrenchment of the welfare state?

Together with articles like this that make the connection clear, it might. Thanks for writing it, Mr. Tracinski, and I'm glad to see it posted all over the Internet!

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