The Virtue of Force

Polipundit ^ | 9/4/2005 | D.J. Drummond

[TheGeezer]

There’s been a lot of complaining this week, from the victims and from a lot of what Michelle Malkin calls “armchair first-responders”. Polipundit readers with experience have tried to explain how successful the actual effort has been, but the facts are competing against an entrenched desire to pursue a story which drives the emotions, and the emotions chosen by the media to build on, are anger and envy. Others try to avoid dwelling on the negatives, but are overwhelmed by the sheer scale of the disaster. The first task, reaching people to get them out, was complicated by the destruction of bridges and roads, and the flooding of New Orleans by Lake Pontchartrain and the Gulf wave brought in by the Hurricane. The resistance by gangs and criminals to assistance has also cost lives and brought even more misery on the victims. And the local authorities charged with maintaining order and practicing the emergency plans, have for the most part deserted their duties in favor of taking care of themselves. It’s no coincidence that when the National Guard brought in significant numbers of armed force, the relief finally began to go where it should.

[TheGeezer]

The rest of Drummond's post is short. He raises an interesting point, however, regarding the lack of looting in Biloxi, where individuals can own weapons (in NO only cops and criminals have guns, by ordinance). An additional facor may be that Biloxi is not a large city and liberal Democrats don't dominate the government. Larger cities with Democrat liberal governments are the most murderous in peacetime and will be the most murderous under stress. Didn't NO have a very high murder rate before Katrina?

[Gandalf_The_Gray]

Didn't NO have a very high murder rate before Katrina?

Highest in the nation! Their murder kept going up as they added more police. When NOPD dropped from 1700 to 1500 there was a decrease in the crime rate as well.

Hmmmmmm

Regards,
GtG