Welfare State vs Free State

[sanjavalen]

We all know (or should) the moral and political reasons why the welfare state is so awful. But have you ever wondered what the actual difference is, in day to day handling of affairs, the effect on individual people?

Reality is always quick to provide a dramatization of the issue for all to see. Here it elegantly answers the question "How does the average person of a welfare state react to a natural disaster, vs a human being in a relatively free society?"

In Iowa, there is a natural disaster, a flood the likes of which have allegedly not been seen in hundreds of years. This timeline shows the progression, over several days, of people attempting to fight the flood waters and of neighborhoods submerged under the water.

Yet no deaths have been reported. Tales of looting have yet to hit the news websites. The spectacle of a helpless people, unable to cope with a terrible disaster, does not greet our eyes. Instead we see stubborn officials and people dealing with the flood as best they can. It almost becomes boring by today's standards of newscasting.

Compare with the victims of Katrina. Massive looting, government-funded exoduses to other cities, and an endless series of demands for more aid to the poor victims. And today, there are still people in FEMA trailers, their absurdly high rent being paid by you and I.

Said one commentator on the Iowa flood:

There will be no massive relief effort from around the world, and nobody will step up to help Iowans except for other Iowans. Yet years from now, there will be no Iowans still in FEMA camps.

The difference is not in the severity of the flood, but in the people who confront the flood.

Indeed. A people used to having the vast majority of their needs taken care of by their wealthier neighbors will not respond to a disaster with anything but demands for more handouts. A people used to relying on themselves will buy flood insurance, be prepared to leave and respond to the disaster in a manner meant to minimize the damage and repair it as soon as it is over.

I am sure there are welfare bums in Iowa being hauled out of the water by their better neighbors. I am also sure that in New Orleans, there was quite a few intelligent people who got out while they could or responded admirably to Katrina. But to look at the essentials; to see how the government and people generally reacted to the disaster, shows a fundamental difference in the kind of man who tolerates and wants to live in a welfare state vs one who wishes to be relatively free.

[Branden]

(I'm from Iowa)

I was watching a historical show about China a few weeks ago, and they talked about how the Yellow and Yangtze rivers flooded constantly throughout the history of China. Because of this flooding, the narrator continued, China didn't have the luxury of "individualism" and instead had to focus on "collective education" and "sacrificing for the community." He claimed this was necessary because they had constant problems with flooding.

This brought to my mind a similar comparison as you were talking about. In 1993, Iowa had horrible flooding that did a ton of damage. Parts of Des Moines went 2 weeks without fresh water. The experts said it was a flood that was so bad that it would only happen once every 500 years. Regardless, we decided to build levees throughout flood-prone areas, and within a few years, most of the big cities were nearly flood-proof (particularly Des Moines). Because of this, even though we didn't have much "collective education," large portions of the state now are experiencing much less flooding than they would have had if the flood had been as bad. In addition, we now have back-up water treatment plants, so that when one plant goes offline due to a flood (or other disaster) we will still have clean water.

What was probably the most important safety aspect regarding the recent floods, though, is that over 2 weeks ago we started organizing entirely voluntary sand-bagging groups, and had voluntary evacuations in the most dangerous areas. Besides both of these efforts, many people had gotten flood insurance after the floods of '93, so they will have the money to rebuild even if their property is still flooded after the defense efforts.

In contrast, the Chinese still, every few years, have massive flooding, and restart from scratch each time. The lesson they take away from it is the need for collective education and sacrifice; the lesson Iowans took away from floods is the need for preparation through insurance and better infrastructure.

[John McVey]

We all know (or should) the moral and political reasons why the welfare state is so awful. But have you ever wondered what the actual difference is, in day to day handling of affairs, the effect on individual people?

...

Compare with the victims of Katrina. Massive looting, government-funded exoduses to other cities, and an endless series of demands for more aid to the poor victims. And today, there are still people in FEMA trailers, their absurdly high rent being paid by you and I.

Heya Santiago. You might be interested in looking up the October 2005 issue (Vol 19 No. 3) of The Intellectual Activist. Rob Tracinski covers this in quite some detail.

What explains the bands of thugs using a natural disaster as an excuse for an orgy of looting, armed robbery and rape? What caused angry mobs to storm the first buses that arrived to evacuate them, prompting the drivers to speed away, frightened for their lives? What caused people to attack the doctors trying to treat patients at the Superdome? Why did people respond to natural destruction by causing further destruction and by attacking the very people who were trying to help them?

...

Hurricane Katrina exposed the psychological consequences of the welfare state. What we consider "normal" behavior in an emergency is behavior that is normal for individuals who have long-term goals and values and take responsibility to pursue and protect them. ...

But what about the parasites raised on the welfare system?

JJM