It makes one look like a savage to say so, but if your house burns down, blows over, or floats away, it's not the job of the federal government to fix it for you. Charity is one thing, but federal tax dollars coerced at 1040-point from a single working mother of two in Dubuque (and then filtered through a morbidly obese federal agency) to rebuild your bungalow inDestinOrange County is not charity, okay? It's extortion.
That goes double for a house built on stilts, or on a hillside known for mudslides, avalanche, rockslides. Or on a Beach. Beaches, like the climate of the globe are never the same from year to year. I was at the CEO's Beach house and pointed out the dunes beside his house: "See the coastline was here once" and likely the whole strip of beach was on the sea floor not too long ago.
ReplyDeleteJust do a google search for "army corps of engineers, beach replenishment" and you can see how much we're being greased up for people who think the world has always looked this way.
Grrrrr
Just do a google search for "army corps of engineers, beach replenishment" and you can see how much we're being greased up for people who think the world has always looked this way.
ReplyDeleteWhat are you talking about? Everyone knows that the world is a static being...coastlines, climate, temperature, the size and location of glaciers, the relative populations of flora and fauna...etc; and any change in any of those things obviously indicates that TEOTWAWKI(tm) is imminent.
Oh, and it's all the Christofascist Rethuglicans and Bushitler McCheneyburton's fault.
While I'm on a roll:
If my house ever burns down due to...say...faulty electrical wiring or a lightening strike, is the Federal Government going to come riding to the rescue for me?
If not, why not? Is my house any less burned down than those who lost their homes in a forest fire? Is my life less impacted or less disrupted by the loss?
Why do families who are involved in a catastrophe rate more "compassion" and help than those who suffer loss individually?
Just curious.
Have I told you lately that you look like a savage? Rowwrr. And, you quote yourself. That is such a turn-on.
ReplyDeleteWe have a Greek translation issue here. Everything Aristotle attributes to The State can be read as "the community." If we go together to share certain of life's risks, that's just folks. Society. Call it what you will. And government's role in this would be, what, facilitation? (Pronounce that FAZ-la-Tayshun, you won't sound like a bureaucrat). Except that government project selection tends, strongly, to womp down all alternatives. Clearinghouse of ideas? Please. See "Homeland" for how that's working out. Maybe just oversight, an enumerated judiciary function. No, then you need private oversight of the public overseers. Maybe just tort-claims mechanisms, to settle disputes? We're getting warm now, but I sure haven't been impressed with the quality of court-issued justice. If we mostly had our asses in gear, there really wouldn't be much role left for government in natural disaster, would there?
So we suffer from an epidemic of confusing all public action with single-payer coercion. It's a habit of mind; I always call it the most dangerous addiction. Many "very smart people" swallow it so young and so completely, their judgement is clouded for life. The rest of us are so disgusted that we avoid public action altogether, to spend less time with socialists--and lose the battle for hearts & minds by default.
Okay, so 'we men of the mind' go on strike. Nobody notices (forgive me, Alissa Rosenbaum). How do we get out of this spiral? Well, Holiday Inn Express has a new logo. Maybe more people will stay there. There's one over there, on the beach.
Hear! Hear! The irony here is that when the feds give those credit cards for cash/purchases, unlike the Katrina evacuees all the California victims will already have their $1500 Louis Vuitton purses. Unless they got smoked. Yeah, I don't think the feds should be in the business of compensating one person for the loss of their $20,000 purse collection. This is a steaming pile from stem to stern.
ReplyDelete"world has always looked this way."
Yes, of course except for the havoc and chaos wrought by man-unkind, er, uh, conservatives. We must not forget that unpleasant business when Republicans held a meteor at gunpoint, forcing it to make an unscheduled appearance on the planet to wipe out the dinosaurs, and other assorted nastiness.
Actually the federal government is not in the business of "making you whole" it's there to help a disaster victim start on the road back. The maximum amount they can give an individual is $28,200 total for support.
ReplyDeleteThat amount of money for losing a home or a business to a common disaster doesn't begin to restore an individual to before disaster conditions...but it does help to set him on the way.
Which of Congress's strictly enumerated powers covers "starting you on the path"?
ReplyDeleteYes, Tam, you are dealing with a Preamblist.
ReplyDelete-to form union,
-establish justice,
-insure tranquility,
-provide defense,
-promote welfare,
-secure blessings
(inert positivist definitions where appropriate)
Trumps ten dumb old amendments every time. Hey, it's a living document! It's Alive!
Then shoot the damn thing, and quickly!
ReplyDeleteSom serious flaws in that document, the happy-making tak at the start of it being among the worst and the lack of enforcement applied to the Bill of Rights bringing up the rear.
Meanwhile, reality is having its way with us -- collectively as the State and, more painfully, as individuals
Actually the federal government is not in the business of "making you whole" it's there to help a disaster victim start on the road back
ReplyDeleteSo answer my question.
Doesn't my house burning down constitute a disaster for me and my family? Don't we deserve just as much help to "start on the road back?"
Aren't we guaranteed equal protection under the law? So if the fedgov is going to be in the "disaster relief" business, shouldn't it be equally applied to all disasters, regardless of scope? If not, why not?
Oh, now there you go with that silly "logic" stuff again!
ReplyDeletecomatus said,
ReplyDelete"Hey, it's a living document! It's Alive!"
To which robertax replied,
"Then shoot the damn thing, and quickly!"
Head on keyboard. Fist pounding on desk.
That was funny.
Sorry, I'm easily amused.
She does help bring out your inner Reactionary, no? :)
ReplyDeleteTam,
ReplyDeleteIt's why I've been coming back for these two-odd years.
What I find interesting in that whole "living document" belief is that at least one of the Founding Fathers, Jefferson I believe, stated unequivocably that it is NOT a living document. In fact I think his statement was that you should think back to the mode of thought when it was created and that is how it should be interpreted. Ergo, it is set in stone and is not living and changing. Though the mechanism was set in place to amend it if necessary.
ReplyDeleteIf by promoting the general welfare that means promoting the welfare state, then they are doing fine.
ReplyDeleteThis kind of thing has been going on since Davy Crockett was a congresscritter.
What makes it even more infuriating is that these people will be given an illegal transfer payment to rebuild the damn house right where it burned down the first time!
And, if "asked nicely" to spend their reconstruction allowance up off the flood plain (I remember this from the Missouri floods) they'll act like (wait for it) their constitutional rights have been violated!
ReplyDeleteInteresting Crockett comparison, Beck. His hot issue was "squatter laws," and anyone who thinks things were simpler then ought to look that up. Any farkin ijjit knows freedom ain't free; we often gloss over "and republics ain't simple." That's what Yerp doesn't get.
The fires are a tragedy, but I can attest after living in Southern CA for 10 years, those hills burn with regularity.
ReplyDeleteWhat amazed me were the people on the news talking about losing their house four or six years ago, in a fire, then they lose this one. and by God. . they can't WAIT TO REBUILD. On the same hill.
Those hills will burn until Jennifer Aniston is a gifted actress. Hurricanes will hit the coast. The Mississippi delta will flood. Move away, start anew. But please don't build in the same damn place and expect the rest of us to pay for it with increased taxes and insurance rates.
"Those hills will burn until Jennifer Aniston is a gifted actress."
ReplyDelete*Snort!* :)