Katrina, Self-Government, Poverty: Two Views

A Civilizational Vacuum By George Neumayr, Published 9/8/2005

George Neumayr is executive editor of The American Spectator.

A republican form of government presupposes self-government -- the capacity of citizens to govern themselves according to reason -- and does not, if it intends to survive, champion them as "victims" when they don't. But the shocking lack of self-government demonstrated by New Orleanians is the one area of government that our republic's vapid media won't scrutinize in their post-mortems on the city's collapse.

Reporters keep shaking their fists at "the government," as if America were not a republic but a statist autocracy in which remote rulers can snap their fingers and make problems vanish for their subjects. [. . . . ] What I find more embarrassing is the media's infantilizing of New Orleans citizens who chose not to evacuate despite loud and obvious warnings. Does personal responsibility mean nothing at this point? Aren't citizens "the government" too? What's disgraceful, and positively dangerous, in a republic that depends on self-reliance is a media that encourages a culture of victimization.

Reasoned and worth reading.




Not So Fast By R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. , 9/8/2005

R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr., is the founder and editor in chief of The American Spectator, a contributing editor to the New York Sun, and an adjunct scholar at the Hudson Institute. His latest book is Madame Hillary: The Dark Road to the White House (Regnery Publishing).

WASHINGTON -- The stars of modern broadcast media take prodigious pride in the speed with which they can communicate to the masses. Of course, these artistes remain utterly oblivious of the poisonous concomitant of that speed, namely, the media's almost inane superficiality. [. . . . ]

Search: recriminations by public officials



Radio Blogger: two articles

1. Major Garrett updates us on the Red Cross AND the Salvation Army being blocked from helping by Louisiana state officials

Do not miss scrolling down for a revealing photo -- the mayor's best?


2. Mark Steyn on what DeTocqueville understood, what Blanco didn't, and the Democrats' march to 20%

HH: Mark, before we get to the specifics that I'm talking about, the media's meltdown, it seems to me that a lot of facts have come to light. What's your judgment of what went wrong last week in New Orleans?

MS: Well, I think the question of what went wrong is a very simple one. It actually has a failed local and state government. And when you're in that situation, there's a limit to what the national government can do, particularly when you're talking about a national government that has to basically span a continent. [. . . . ]

HH: You know, Mark Steyn, there seems to be a massive attempt at fraud under way, which if it was occurring in the mail, it would be, I think, subject to mail fraud, which is to persuade America, via the MSM, that this is George Bush's and his FEMA's fault. How do you respond to this? [. . . . ]

Read Steyn's responses to this and other questions. He's always worth reading and listening to.

Search: Jack Cafferty , Wolf Blitzer [MP3 just below his name] , Paul Begala [MP3 also]


The Urban Refugee: Staying Poor Sept. 7, 05. I regret that I forgot to write whose website sent me to this; thanks to ?(http://www.urbanrefugee.ca/categories/ponderous-ponderings/)

The writer is NOT claiming that those too old, sick, weak should work when they cannot; instead, he writes of an attitude, something seemingly familiar to him/her. It is worth reading.

Staying poor is a result of thinking that others owe you a living. They don’t. The only person who owes you a decent living is you.

Staying poor is a result of becoming too reliant on others. There is a massive infrastructure devoted to helping the poor in this country. It is in the interest of the persons who work in it to help you tread water and keep from sinking, not to pull you out of the water, because that puts them out of a job.

Staying poor is a result of being unwilling to learn new things. You may have dropped out of school in grade eight. You may have gotten a university degree in a field where there are few jobs. Fine. Go back to school if you can. Go visit your public library if you can’t. Make a point of reading and learning something new every day. Earning is tied to learning. [. . . . ]

May I add that you are never poor if you can read and get to a library? To develop a passion to learn is to leave poverty behind . . . . at least poverty of the spirit.

This is lengthy and full of points worth discussing.




For another point of view, there is what prompted this post.
** Inspired by this post.

From Whatever, September 03, 2005 and he / she notes, on the main page "In case anyone wants to point out the irony of me making hot, sweet reprint money by writing about poverty, I'll note in this particular case I've been waiving my reprint fee."

Being Poor

Being poor is knowing exactly how much everything costs.

Being poor is getting angry at your kids for asking for all the crap they see on TV.

Being poor is having to keep buying $800 cars because they're what you can afford, and then having the cars break down on you, because there's not an $800 car in America that's worth a damn. [. . . . ]

Worth reading also.

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