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New Orleans: The Nanny State’s Bitter Fruit
The Reality Check ^ | 02 September 2005 | Justin Darr

Posted on 09/02/2005 9:49:33 PM PDT by Lando Lincoln

Two days. 48 hours. 2,880 minutes. This was all the time it took for the fabric of 6000 years of civilization to unravel in New Orleans. Streets which just last week were lined with the fans of Blues clubs and theaters are now patrolled by gangs of what in any other country would be called terrorists looking for their next innocent victim or store front to pillage. Rapes and gang wars in the Superdome, gun fire at rescue helicopters, and the efforts to search and rescue trapped survivors of hurricane Katrina have been abandoned in a near hopeless effort to restore some semblance of public order. Think of it. In just two days time, authorities have been forced to desert innocent people to almost certain death because New Orleans has become unsafe for rescue operations. Two days.

How could this have happened so quickly? Early reports of looting where portrayed by the media as desperate, hungry people breaking into grocery stores. In my opinion, this is not looting but survival. However, as the full scope of events has become clearer, it is evident that the mayhem in New Orleans is not a result of trapped residents trying to stay alive, but a carnival atmosphere where the bodies of the dead are pushed aside in order to steal their stereos.

I was originally going to write nothing about hurricane Katrina. Times of national tragedy are no time for partisanship. However, what is happening in New Orleans goes beyond the simple red state/ blue state debate. This disaster has exposed something putrid in our society. For this to happen so quickly indicates that there is something fundamentally flawed in our culture that should not be brushed under the rug by political correctness or blamed on any simple politician or political party. What is happening in New Orleans can and will happen again unless we take sober steps to first understand why these events have occurred, and then act to prevent them.

These are the politically correct facts as we know them. Almost everyone who could evacuate New Orleans before the hurricane did. Those who stayed where the very poor or ill who did not have the means to leave.

The reality is that the poor residents of the New Orleans could have evacuated the flood zone on a public bus before the hurricane for about the cost of a bottle of water. The total disabled population of New Orleans who might not have been able to evacuate is estimated at around 55,000 residents. So, the question must be asked why up to half a million people did not evacuate the city. The sad answer is that many of these residents remained because they where waiting for the government to aid them.

Many trapped in New Orleans right now are in a state of shock. They expected the nanny state which provides them with housing, medical care, food, and education to also come forward and provide them with the means of escaping a natural disaster. When a state of emergency was declared in August 26th , they waited. When the inbound lanes of the highways around New Orleans where rerouted outbound to allow for faster evacuation by road, they waited. If things where really that bad, the government would come through for them and tell them where to go, what to do, and provide the means to make it happen. Many residents in New Orleans remained because they have been so indoctrinated into the idea that they will be taken care of by the government that they are incapable to looking out for themselves.

Now the government has failed them. In a culture where all the comforts of life have been provided to people as entitlements, their sudden absence has unleashed a violent backlash against the society these people feel has let them down. In other words, if some people do not get what they feel they are entitled to get, then something unfair must have happened, so now they have the right to go out and take it.

Let me stress again, these people are not out just trying to get baby food and Grandma’s insulin. They are stealing electronics, guns, furniture, beer trucks, and Nikes. Along with the end of social service entitlements has come the end of the rules of behavior these entitlements require. So, if the government is not giving you anything, some of these people feel that they do not have to follow the laws of civilized society.

The nanny state has created a class of people in America not only unable to take care of their own needs, but incapable to existing within normal society. In your neighborhood, laws and peaceful coexistence are not maintained by government or the police, but by the people themselves. You obey the law and live a civil existence because you understand that this is the only way you will have a good life. You feel that way because you have worked hard and are unwilling to jeopardize everything you have earned by acting foolishly. But those who have always been given everything and told that everything they do wrong is a result of their being a victim, there is no similar prohibition.

New Orleans is a warning to us all. We must change our culture from one of entitlement to one of responsibility now, or we may have no culture left in the future.

Justin Darr is the Managing Editor of www.RepublicanVoices.org and a freelance writer living in the Philadelphia area. He is published in over 80 publications across North America, Europe, and in the Far East. Justin Darr is a proud member of the Moveoff Network http://moveoff.net.


TOPICS: Editorial
KEYWORDS: cary; katrina; nannystate; neworleans; urbanbarbarians
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Lando

1 posted on 09/02/2005 9:49:33 PM PDT by Lando Lincoln
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To: Lando Lincoln

Exactly. It has been proven that it is a serious, internal, national security vulnerability.


2 posted on 09/02/2005 9:56:05 PM PDT by AmericanInTokyo (USA should be studied by StateDept. as a "Foreign Country". Then will see OUR insurgents and chaos.)
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To: Lando Lincoln

Fine piece, but New Orleans did not take 48 Hrs. to drift into lawlessness, it was already there before the storm even produced its first drop of rain.


3 posted on 09/02/2005 9:59:30 PM PDT by Sthitch
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To: Lando Lincoln
Many trapped in New Orleans right now are in a state of shock. They expected the nanny state which provides them with housing, medical care, food, and education to also come forward and provide them with the means of escaping a natural disaster. When a state of emergency was declared in August 26th , they waited. When the inbound lanes of the highways around New Orleans where rerouted outbound to allow for faster evacuation by road, they waited. If things where really that bad, the government would come through for them and tell them where to go, what to do, and provide the means to make it happen.

But the Democrat Mayor of New Orleans had his city buses parked in neat rows even though he knew that anything above a Category 3 hurricane would flood New Orleans. That had been predicted for years by those who do that sort of stuff for a living.

Now, after the disaster, that same Mayor is playing the Race Card and the Victim Card and blaming Bush and the Federal Government for his own mess.

4 posted on 09/02/2005 10:01:10 PM PDT by Polybius
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To: Lando Lincoln
If it was all only this simple. The nanny state is partially to blame, but the history of New Orleans and more specifically the history of blacks in NO is a complex one.

The long historical road to the current black underclass is littered with economic injustice and racism.....too bad the Great Society "solutions" have only institutionalized their plight.

What's the solution? It's got to start from within that community.

5 posted on 09/02/2005 10:06:07 PM PDT by zarf
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To: Lando Lincoln

During the LA riot after the Rodney King verdict a cable reporter questioned a guy on the street carrying a TV about what he was doing. His response? "I think this is a way for poor people to get some of the things they deserve." Some of the parasitic filthy thinking behind the looting has to do with crazed minds and tainted characters.


6 posted on 09/02/2005 10:11:05 PM PDT by 185JHP ( "The thing thou purposest shall come to pass: And over all thy ways the light shall shine.")
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To: zarf
Also the looting, I will continual to remind everyone. After NO was liberated during the war between th states, enterprising freedmen sold other freedmen back into slavery.
7 posted on 09/02/2005 10:12:20 PM PDT by dts32041 (Shinkichi: Massuer, did you see that? Zatôichi: I don't see much)
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To: Lando Lincoln
The nanny state has created a class of people in America not only unable to take care of their own needs, but incapable to existing within normal society.

Failed by the plantation masters (mayor and Gov.).

8 posted on 09/02/2005 10:13:37 PM PDT by ncountylee (Dead terrorists smell like victory)
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To: Lando Lincoln
In other words, if some people do not get what they feel they are entitled to get, then something unfair must have happened, so now they have the right to go out and take it.

the writer has his hands on the pulse of New Orleans or he equates it to his experience everyday in Philadelphia.
9 posted on 09/02/2005 10:14:52 PM PDT by rineaux (hardcore)
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To: Polybius

Yes this picture sums it up. There was NO ONE in charge. Apparently there was no plan either. Now add all of the school buses and public fleet vehicles like public works trucks etc. They should have all been moved to the west- along with any heavy equipment etc... taking as many people as possible with them.


10 posted on 09/02/2005 10:18:16 PM PDT by lawdog
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To: Lando Lincoln
Early reports of looting where portrayed by the media as desperate, hungry people breaking into grocery stores.

Those who stayed where the very poor or ill who did not have the means to leave.

The sad answer is that many of these residents remained because they where waiting for the government to aid them.

When the inbound lanes of the highways around New Orleans where rerouted outbound to allow for faster evacuation by road, they waited.

If things where really that bad, the government would come through for them and tell them where to go, what to do, and provide the means to make it happen.



Were did this guy go to grammar, or proofreading, school?

11 posted on 09/02/2005 10:19:58 PM PDT by Hank Rearden (Never allow anyone who could only get a government job attempt to tell you how to run your life.)
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To: Polybius

"Now, after the disaster, that same Mayor is playing the Race Card and the Victim Card and blaming Bush and the Federal Government for his own mess."

The Mayor of New Orleans is absolutely useless. Compare the actions of Rudy Giuliani ( and Gov. Pataki ) after 9-11 to this so called Mayor ( and Gov. of La.). Rudy was calling on calm and everyone to help eachother out and saying that we would all get through this , and compare it to Ray Nagin griping about how the Federal and State government wasn`t helping him, wasn`t giving him direction. You would think the Mayor was a victim in all this. Truly sickening.


12 posted on 09/02/2005 10:27:59 PM PDT by Peace will be here soon
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To: lawdog
Yes this picture sums it up. There was NO ONE in charge. Apparently there was no plan either.

Yep. That photo does sum it up and I have posted that photo on several different threads with commentary to get the message out.

And what about the liberal news media?

The AP just puts that photo on a Yahoo web slide show with the comment:

AP - Thu Sep 1, 4:15 PM ET An aerial view of flooded school buses in a lot, Thursday, Sept. 1, 2005, in New Orleans, LA. The flood is a result of Hurricane Katrina that passed through the area last Monday.(AP Photo/Phil Coale)

If it does not hurt Bush, the liberal media does not dwell upon the elephant in the middle of the room.

13 posted on 09/02/2005 10:30:34 PM PDT by Polybius
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Comment #14 Removed by Moderator

To: dk/coro

Maybe, just maybe God allowed this to happen to shake this city to its core. This is a huge disaster but could be a blessing in disguise for many to find a new life outside of this moral cesspool of a city despite it's historic charm. Perhaps God meant this to happen for good to NawLens. Perhaps much evil is being rooted out. Just a thought!


15 posted on 09/02/2005 10:47:20 PM PDT by tflabo (Take authority that's ours)
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To: Lando Lincoln

Great article...Thanks Lando!!!


16 posted on 09/02/2005 10:53:10 PM PDT by lainde
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To: Lando Lincoln

some stayed to loot

not uncommon at all


17 posted on 09/02/2005 10:54:06 PM PDT by wardaddy (will a tort lawyer in Mississippi file class action against God now?)
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To: Lando Lincoln

Do I hear an echo of an earlier post by me?

"The portrayed close knit Black community is a falsehood propagandized by race pimp leaders, in New Orleans, I have witnessed nothing but a gaggle, constituted of idiots with a me first mob mentality.

With no LEO or civilian authority on hand, why from this crowd of humanity, did no Black leaders witnessing this chaos, not step forward and rise to the occasion by organizing a form of self government? Why did Black ex-military, and LEO there not form able bodied men into a ad hoc civil and police force to protect the most helpless and defenseless? Why did they not have the wherewithal to assure that water, food and medical supplies on hand and delivered, be distributed equally and fairly? Why did the strong standby and allow predators to prey upon the weak? Why did Black experienced medical people not step forward and organize to make even a minimal effort to help those in the most dire need? Why did Black leaders not separate these mobs into much smaller groups where manageable control and safety could be maintained?

Why? Because as generations of welfare and freebie recipients such as we now witness here, have never had to be responsible for anything they have ever done. Their so called leaders have ingrained into them, that they are owed all, are victims of society, nothing is ever their fault, it is the government's job to, feed, clothe, house, and provide them with free medical care from cradle to the grave.

Was Massa right, in that Blacks cannot take responsibility for themselves to function as a people without constant oversight and care, or, is this what the great welfare society has wrought upon them, and us all?"


18 posted on 09/02/2005 10:55:55 PM PDT by Ursus arctos horribilis ("It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees!" Emiliano Zapata 1879-1919)
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To: zarf

"What's the solution?"

Root wild hog or die. Maybe even do the jobs which illegals do, that would be a start.


19 posted on 09/02/2005 10:58:08 PM PDT by Ursus arctos horribilis ("It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees!" Emiliano Zapata 1879-1919)
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To: Ursus arctos horribilis

Every able bodied young evacuee should be commandered and involved in the reconstruction of New Orleans. Train them if needs be, This country could use some new carpenters.


20 posted on 09/02/2005 11:07:55 PM PDT by zarf (***)
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