How Big Government Feeds on Crises

It should come as no surprise that in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, proponents of Big Government at every level were milking the tragedy for all it would produce in terms of increasing their power.

Few opportunities are missed by career politicians and government officials to portray Big Government as everybody's Savior, to justify still more taxation to fund still more unaccountable, bureaucratic meddling in the lives of The People.

President Bush has said the "federal government" (read: all US taxpayers, whether willing or not) will foot the bill for "recovery" from Katrina.

[James Madison (Remember him?  Father of the Constitution?  Remember the Constitution?) in 1794 said:  "I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents."  It might surprise the likes of George Bush to discover that such an article remains conspicuously absent from that document.]

After Hurricane Rita had come and gone, "the authorities" wasted no time in awarding themselves incrementally more power over their subjects, in this case with a drive towards permanently controlling who may travel where and when.

As Rita approached the Texas coast as a Category 5 (out of 5) threat, on September 22nd and 23rd, the major freeways (and other roads) leading out of Houston quickly became parking lots, effectively quadrupling drive times to inland destinations like San Antonio and Dallas.  Cars overheated and ran out of gas -- and the fuel supply all but vanished.

Never mind that the stampeding herd had been conditioned to obey "government officials" whose warnings were hyped and re-hyped via every available media channel.  Supposedly unable to foresee, control, or prevent the inevitable and unfortunate consequences of their heavily broadcast (and, it turns out -- for many Texans -- false) alarms, those same "government officials" nevertheless hastened to assume control of all evacuees' return journeys, effectively saying:  "We accept no responsibility for our contribution to this mess, but y'all must trust us to dictate your travel options throughout the aftermath."

Rita's impact turned out to be far less than predicted for most of the Houston-Galveston corridor.  The worst was over by mid-morning on September 24th, with little more than intermittent light rain and wind gusts remaining as evidence of a hurricane in the Greater Houston area.  Both flooding and wind damage were far less than "authorities" had predicted.  So naturally, folks started driving back home.

But "the authorities" couldn't let it be that easy.  Instead, still side-stepping responsibility for the outbound traffic jams of just a day or two ago, they rolled out a "plan" by which they would control the timing of evacuees' return by region.  Their "plan" demanded that residents of each region return to the Houston area only on the specified day for their respective regions -- spread out over a 4-day period.

Never mind who could (or could not) afford to remain away for one, two, or three more days.  Never mind who had pressing personal, family, business, or property matters awaiting their attention back home.

No, the most important thing was that "the authorities" extend and exacerbate the crisis by exerting their power, proving that they could avert evil traffic jams, if only they are allowed to control who goes where and when.

What most folks will too quickly overlook in all this is that:  1) crises always have and always will generate troublesome conditions (with or without government involvement);  2) government never could and never will effectively avert every crisis -- especially where nature is concerned;  and 3) government's assertion of control after a crisis is little more than a thinly disguised drive towards increased power of government over The People ("for their own good, of course").

Forcing (or attempting to force) folks to return home according to a government-prescribed schedule proves only that "government officials" are capable of "solving" a problem too late to be of any genuine value, with a government "program" that is sure be less than viable, while increasing incrementally in the public mind the perceived "value" of more government control.

Short answer:  Don't do it -- it's a trick!