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Iraq and Katrina Even if Iraq won't prevent us from sustaining the response to Katrina, for a senior military official with Blum's evident experience to admit that it delayed the response is a pretty stunning admission. It's probably going to give the criticism of the administration and the GOP real traction with people of good sense and good will ... as it should. Professor Bainbridge claims to be a Libertarian. Yet I'm amazed at the irony he and other so-called "Libertarians" show when they point the finger at Bush for his response in Katrina. It's ironic because it flies in the face of the very principles that Libertarian supposedly stands for. If you are a libertarian and you point the finger at the Federal Government for it's failures to respond in a rapid manner, and complain that Bush's war in Iraq is taking resources away from supplementing local first responders, then you need to check your libertarian credentials at the door. I'm sure a nice socialist will be more than happy to create a new card for you to take the place of your old libertarian card in your wallet. That's because if you really believe in smaller Federal Government, state's rights and decentralizing responsibility downwards from the Fed to the states, to local municipalities and ultimately to individuals themselves, then necessarly Bush cannot be to blaim for this disaster as Bush should have no responsibility with this disaster. If you really are a libertarian, then you look at the coordination provided by FEMA with a little suspiction--after all, it sort of smacks of Socialism for the Federal Government to ride in and take over state and local control for reconstructing the lives of the individuals who live there--and instead turn your attention to the states of Louisiana and Mississippi, where good States Rights Libertarians have said for decades that governmental control should reside. In a true small government scenario, the Federal Government only has the power to do things like wage war overseas and provide for the common defense of these united States. And if you really are a Libertarian, you believe the true responsibility for those people stranded in New Orleans ultimately rides on those people who failed to get out of dodge when what appeared to be the Perfect Storm was coming out of the barrel with you squarely in the target sights. That people who claim to be Libertarian are willing to completely scrap their own principles the moment a disaster comes along tells me that perhaps their support of Libertarian principles is less about a philosophical system of government and more about getting the "Man" to leave them alone. That is, it's less about a theory of government that stresses independence, but instead is a sort of "psudo-hippiness" where "free love" and "question authority" has shucked it's tie-died shirts and hookas and put on a suit and tie. After all, for a "Libertarian" to complain that the Federal Government and ultimately Bush were responsible is essentially to go crying to the parental units you despise and have been demanding independence from. posted by William Woody at 10:32 AM  
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About:
A moderate conservative living in the left coast, surrounded by the sureal, wonders if there is a sane life living amongst those who have lost touch with reality. • View ProfileRecent Items: • it's a disaster, not simply an inconvenience • a picture and an exerpt • a new essay • cold but effective • first responder failure in new orleans • bad humor • why do you think they call them "first responders"? • katrina and the lowering of the collective punditr... • u.s. out of new orleans! • ow! sides hurt from laughter 
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