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Quotational Therapy: Part 53 -- A Personal Responsibility Revolution.

Spoiled By Dependency-

This hurricane season has been pretty intense for a lot of Americans (and Moose). I even got caught up in the craziness, myself. If there's anything people should have learned from this summer, it's that you have to be prepared. You have to be ready to take care of yourself, because depending on the government for your health, safety, and comfort-- in the middle of an unprecedented crisis-- is just a bad idea.

But it seems like a lot of folks still haven't gotten "it."

Spotted in a story on the Fox News website earlier this week (underlining mine):

Items Americans usually take for granted — a bag of ice, a fast-food burger, a gallon of gas — have taken hours of patience to get since Hurricane Wilma made its destructive sweep.

Nine hours after she got in line Tuesday at one designated relief-supply location, Fanie Aristil, 23, of North Miami wearily left for home with 28 pounds of ice and six liters of bottled water.

"All that time," Aristil said. "This is all we get?"

Is this the new standard in America? Have we become such a deeply entrenched dependency society that we expect the government to swoop in on every single emergency situation, deus ex machina style, and make sure that all of our wildest dreams come true?

Hurricane Wilma gave Florida ample of heads up before it hit. The government urged people to get out of the way and/or stock up on supplies.

While I have compassion for people who have lost everything in these monster storms, people should not complain about receiving only 28 pounds of ice and several liters of water in the first couple of days after the storm strikes.

From here on out, people living along the Gulf Coast have no excuse for not preparing ahead of time for at least a few days worth of food, water, and other supplies.

Jeb Bush understands this, and spoke bluntly about it:

People had ample time to prepare. It isn't that hard to get 72 hours worth of food and water.

Jeb Bush: telling it like it is.

More from Gary Becker on government dependency and emergencies.

Previous Quotational Therapy Session:

Ben Bernanke, On Fiscal Policy.

The right quote can be therapeutic, so tune in to WILLisms.com for quotational therapy every Monday and Friday.

Posted by Will Franklin · 28 October 2005 07:07 PM

Comments

Posted by: Fred Fry at October 29, 2005 07:39 AM