Subsequent to hurricane Katrina, anarchy and barbarianism broke out at the New Orleans Convention Center among the victims of the disaster that took shelter there. Armed gangs were reported to have roamed the Center committing murder, raping teenagers and terrorizing the traumatized victims with no intervention whatsoever by the authorities. The media, and many Americans, seem to want to blame this on the lack of swift response by government agencies to the disaster. There is no doubt the response could have been much better, but this uncivilized behavior has much deeper roots, and is the result of decades of welfare state federal policies as well as local government corruption and inaction.
Millions of federal dollars allocated over the years for disaster planning and the building of levees in Louisiana were not spent for their stated purposes, and more than likely ended up in politicians and their supporters pockets. If the citizens of Louisiana want to keep electing corrupt politicians who keep the poor poor and the uneducated uneducated, then that is their business.
But Louisiana is also a microcosm of the ultimate result of the socialist welfare state policies advocated by the Democratic party on a national scale. I have always viewed the philosophical difference between the Republican and Democratic parties on domestic policy embodied in the old saying "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for life."
The Democrats idea of compassionate leadership is to give a man a fish every day because they believe he is incapable of providing for himself, and the better off in society owe it to him and can afford to do it. But that philosophy breeds dependency and gives the man no ability or opportunity to control his own destiny. It also creates a life of idleness, desperation and a sense of victimization. Many of those caught in this situation come to believe there is no hope, often leading to a life of gangs, drugs, violence and lawlessness.
New Orleans was one of the poorest, least educated, crime ridden cities in the country, aided and abetted by a traditionally corrupt city and state government. What happened in New Orleans was the result of decades of welfare state policies in action. No one could imagine that the senseless savagery and barbarism witnessed in New Orleans could happen in the United States of America. But it did. No one can imagine this could happen on a national scale. But if government policies continue to give a man a fish rather than teaching him to fish, it can.
