Watch out for your pocketbooks, the government is now mobilizing to spend billions of our tax dollars cleaning up after Hurricane Katrina. While I support the numerous charities, such as the Red Cross, I do not support the government spending money to clean this up. The residents of New Orleans chose to live there, on the coast, in an area that is no stranger to bad weather. We should support the people whose lives were affected, but rebuilding the area seems to be an awful waste of money. The poor of New Orleans should think very hard about moving back there. Many of them had little to begin with, relocating to a more prosperous area is probably more feasible than returning home.
We have truly become a welfare society. If something bad happens, we expect the government to bail us out, which goes against our country's core principle: independence. Where charity falls short, insurance doesn't apply, that should simply be lost, not taken from the rest of the country without their consent. I'm sure many Americans, living in a lower tax environment, would gladly donate some of the extra 30% of their income to relief efforts, which generally do a much better job at managing the funds.
Referring to government relief destined for grain farmers facing a drought, one of our greatest presidents, Grover Cleveland remarked that, "Federal aid in such cases encourages the expectation of paternal care on the part of the Government and weakens the sturdiness of our national character...."
I couldn't agree more.
