...But the federal government's lethal ineptitude wasn't just a consequence of Mr. Bush's personal inadequacy; it was a consequence of ideological hostility to the very idea of using government to serve the public good. For 25 years the right has been denigrating the public sector, telling us that government is always the problem, not the solution. Why should we be surprised that when we needed a government solution, it wasn't forthcoming?
On the other hand we have this argument from Mark Steyn (courtesy of Relapsed Catholic)
...On 9/11, the federal government failed the people; last week, local and state government failed the people. On 9/11, they stuck to the 30-year-old plan; last week, they didn't bother implementing the state-of-the-art 21st-century plan. Why argue about which level of bureaucracy you prefer to be let down by?
I have to say that a lean to the Mark Steyn side (I know, I know, you are shocked!). Sometimes (um, uh, most of the time) you need to take personal responsibility of a situation otherwise you are left waiting for an underwater bus.
I had a conversation with a couple of friends where one exclaimed the people in government are "literally stupid". We had a good chuckle over this because compared to this friend most of the world is literally stupid and it was such a broad stroke statement that you had to laugh it off. It is not so easy to laugh off the literally stupid response by certain individuals and by Local, State and Federal Governments.
