Despite what people today almost universally believe, it is not the job of government to help people recover from natural disasters, like hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, fires, earthquakes, and storms. If they’re hurt, or their homes or businesses are damaged, it’s mostly the job of self-caring individuals to help themselves. It’s also the job of expert aid organizations, both paid and voluntary. It is not the job of a “helpful” welfare state or a “soft” Big Brother, which have no right to exist.
Firstly, in the event of a rare natural disaster, people need to take proper precautions. Afterwards, if disaster has still struck them, they need to call upon their savings and insurance. Next, they need to turn to family and friends. After that, they need to look to neighbors and coworkers. Lastly, they might in desperation try applying to public charities or begging from random strangers. But they better learn a great lesson from this.
Ultimately, specialist and expert aid organizations are pretty good at helping people get back on their feet. Governments, in turn, are terrible.
It’s the job of government to protect people and property – not to assist disaster victims. That’s not part of its function and it has no idea how to do it. The only proper activity of the state after natural disasters is extra police activity to prevent opportunistic looters.
However much our world is currently trapped in the nightmare of the nanny state, and state regulation of everything, government has no right to “rob Peter to pay for the disaster victim Paul”. Proper government isn’t involved in charity or “redistribution” of wealth. That’s robbery and tyranny. Any thieving, “helpful” state agency, or those who support it, need to be tossed in jail for a decade or three. Government should never rob the public treasury to pay for those suffering from life’s inevitable catastrophes, emergencies, injuries, diseases, poverty, bad luck, and the like. That’s the job of the various individuals involved and their professional medical, repair, and construction organizations. By definition, government is incompetent to help and will always foul up.
In the end, everyone needs to be smart, virtuous, and ready, when to comes to potential natural disasters. They also need to have reliable savings and insurance, family and friends, neighbors and coworkers, and so on. If they don’t, that’s their fault.
Such people need to have more self-love and live more responsibly. They need to behave like respectable, worthy adults – not pathetic, helpless children. In certain rare and extreme situations, possibly people should rely upon public charities and random strangers. But proper, proud, and noble folk rarely or never accept charity or beg. Even in the event of a hideous disaster, people should try to be noble souls and not pitiful worms.
Life deep in the Industrial Revolution era is essentially easy. Everyone is rich and ready to roll. But every once in a while horrific disasters strike, and these can be hard. So it’s the job of every person to be overall prepared for them. It’s the job of society too.
But it’s never the job of government to “help”. It’s morally wrong to steal from society and the public coffers. And the “aid” these pathetic people receive from the evil, tyrannical welfare state is almost always dreadful and close to worthless.
People need to create a free and capitalist government, and resultant society, which makes everyone a millionaire. Then they need to use that money and their native intelligence to be ready for emergencies. They need to save plenty of money, get proper insurance, form good relationships with family and friends, and all the rest. Then natural disasters will hurt them far less than before.
The terrible performance of FEMA should lead people to remember how much better things were when people organised voluntarily help.
ReplyDeleteYou're exactly right. But I've heard Americans whining about the performance of FEMA for over half a decade now. I think a free and voluntary society would find many new and excellent ways to deal with disaster which none of us can currently think of. Gov't has zero right to rob the public and tax-payers to fund its hapless "help" efforts.
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