(Fred Weinberg/The Penny Press) – The coverage of “Super Storm Sandy” has been incredibly overblown as you would expect from a storm which hit New York which, even in this day of the internet, fancies itself as the communications capital of the world.
And, if you live in places like Reno, Oklahoma City, Peoria or Alamogordo, you have to chuckle a bit when you hear New Yorkers complaining about the government’s response to a storm.
We all would have some advice for them.
Get over it.
You live on a bunch of islands at or below sea level exposed to the Atlantic Ocean and you honestly think you are not exposed to the elements?
Immediately after Hurricane Katrina leveled parts of New Orleans, we heard the same crap from people who live below sea level and whose state government wouldn’t let the Federal Government in until it was too late. We had the same advice for them. Sue God.
In case you have not figured this out, it is NOT the government’s job to save you from stupidity and a lack of preparedness.
And if you go through your life waiting for the Federal government—or any government for that matter—to bail you out you will be waiting a very long time.
FEMA’s real job is to help you with the paperwork.
It’s a government agency which is, like most government agencies, not capable of doing much else because it is a government agency.
Back when I was a teenaged cadet in the Civil Air Patrol (45 years ago), when the Mississippi flooded every spring, we went up state and filled sandbags. No TV coverage or whining residents of Moline Illinois. Just volunteers doing what volunteers do.
Today, they don’t do that.
Today, we have unionized government employees who resent volunteers.
It is NOT the job of government to be a substitute for your lack of planning and preparedness. In this nation, we have large groups of people who would be willing—more than willing—to volunteer their time, expertise and money to help folks who get caught in an emergency. We have churches, non government organizations like the Red Cross and just plain folks.
But we have a government which almost discourages volunteerism under the guise that somehow agencies like FEMA are up to the job.
Here’s a better idea.
Prepare yourself.
It makes sense to have a plan for natural disasters. And it’s not that difficult. And—contrary to the thinking of certain government officials—preparing for the worst doesn’t make you a subversive or even a conservative. It makes you smart.
Keeping some non perishable food, some potable water, an alternate power source, an escape route makes a lot of sense depending upon where you live.
No government agency will do that for you but you can do it yourself fairly easily.
This isn’t a political statement.
This is a statement of reality.
No matter how much you might wish that our government was all-encompassing and all-competent, the truth is that it is not. And, if it were, you would have NO liberty.
It is incapable of bailing you out of a natural disaster (and many other kinds of disasters) and you will be sadly disappointed if you allow yourself to be lulled into thinking otherwise. In fact, you will look and sound just like the New Yorkers who are now living in their cars.
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