Friday, September 9, 2005

[1850 - California became 31st of the United States of America]

[1945 - LT Grace Hopper performs first debugging, removing a moth from Mark II computer]

[1965 - Sandy Koufax pitches eighth perfect game in major-league baseball history]

[1971 - Prisoners riot at maximum-security Attica Correctional Facility near Buffalo, New York]

Get Out of Town

We hear wild talk from bureaucrats on the ground, who are mismanaging the relief effort, about forced evacuation of the remaining New Orleans residents. Perhaps soon we will be treated to footage of police and national guardsmen hauling Louisiana citizens from their homes at gun point or in handcuffs. What a wonderful example of how a free and democratic society functions in a time of crisis that would make.

We who care about personal liberty have had it with government officials hell-bent on forcing us to do what they in their infinite wisdom have decided is best for us. The proper function of government is to fully and honestly inform the citizenry in time of crisis, and to offer as much humanitarian and other assistance as it can. Having performed these functions, our elected representatives should get out of our way and let us make our own decisions about our survival. Those citizens of New Orleans who, knowing the health risks and other dangers of remaining in their homes in their beloved city, choose not to leave, should be allowed to stay. Each individual knows best what resources are available to him and what risks he is likely to encounter. If one has a large stock of drinking water and food it may make more sense to stay and protect the family in the second floor of one's own home than to make refugees of all and risk being separated as so many were during the period of anarchy following Katrina.

In any event, in the land of free and the home of the brave, government at all levels is obligated to respect the rights of all citizens to self-determination, and none of the bureaucrats or Grand High Poobahs has any business interfering with the best judgment of individual citizens on how to survive in the face of disaster.

William's Whimsical Words:

Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave . . . . . . . . .

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