[TheForge] Katrina

[pwwhitley at aol.com]

I don't want irritate by extending this thread.  I invite anyone who would address my questions/opinion to email offline if they don't wish to post to the list.
 
Would it make any difference to those who are against taxpayers bearing the NO rebuild expenses if the levee had been breached by a terrorist bomb?  by malicious vandalism?
 
Do you think keeping the feds out of the picture would prevent taxpayers having to pay the cost in other ways (e.g., higher cost of shipping and goods through NO, higher insurance as the industry spread the cost around, effect on stocks, etc.)?
 
 Unleashing the free market appears to have a disastrous effect on the middle class.  Try as I might to understand the viewpoint of the Objectivists (I went so far as to read Atlas Shrugged), I cannot fathom what mechanism, outside of fantasy, is supposed to regulate unbridled greed.  It appears to me that more than any other single human trait greed leads to society's breakdown.
 
Walt wrote:
 
"None of us are singular individuals living on a world by ourselves.  If we
were, maybe we may have the "right" to do anything ....  but even then I
have doubts.  We are individuals within a society and many of our rights
come with social responsibilities.  Along with the right, we have the
responsibility to vote, we have the responsibility to treat everyone equally
and we have the responsibility of not infringing on the rights of others."
 
I have to disagree.  We are each singular with whatever 'rights' we choose to assign ourselves.  However, it would be foolish not to recognize the consequences of asserting any given right.  Consequently we tend to comply with the general rules and regulations imposed by our particular society.  
 
My view is that our government's and our corporate sector's actions on a global level must conform to our values on a national level...and this is a matter of practicality more than idealism.  If we value individual rights in our country, how can we deny or support the denial of those rights in other countries and maintain our credibility?
 
Almost no one other than a US citizen believes that democracy is at stake in Iraq.  Whether or not freedom is our ultimate goal in that country makes little practical difference if the widespread perception contradicts that ambition.
 
Philip Whitley