Even New Orleans - Sin City and the capitol of liberal-socialist hedonism - doesn’t deserve this.
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Bruce Babbitt, a former Secretary of the Interior and a socialist in good standing, has written an opinion piece for the New York Times that displays the naked presumption of collectivized power that characterizes liberal-socialism.
He writes, with regard to New Orleans:
“... Congress must determine what to rebuild and what to abandon to the encroaching waters of the Gulf of Mexico.”
Only days ago, he and his fellow liberal-socialists were in full cry, along with traditionalists and conservatives, denouncing the Supreme Court’s “Kelo vs City of New London” decision. How dare, they demanded to know, any city ride roughshod over the rights of homeowners?
But, when a really big opportunity for New Deal-style socialist state-planning comes down the pike, all sense of proportion is abandoned, and liberals leap upon their Marxian soap boxes.
Mr. Babbittt is hardly alone. Many pundits have voiced the same sort of opinion about rebuilding New Orleans.
Before rushing ahead, however, let’s ask ourselves a few questions:
(1) What legal, let alone moral, right have outsiders to dictate rebuilding to New Orleans residents?
(2) Theoretically the Fifth Amendment is still in effect, albeit greatly diminished with regard to rights of private property since Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal. Do liberal-socialists propose that the Federal government buy the city of New Orleans? Have they thought about the cost?
(3) Isn’t it true that people all over the United States have continued to rebuild homes and businesses in areas prone to hurricanes, flooding, tornados, and earthquakes? Isn’t it true that such insouciance has been abetted by Congress’s every-ready hand at the Federal relief spigot?
(4) Why not simply say to people in Florida, the Gulf Coast, the Midwest tornado belt, and the California earthquake zones, do as you wish, but don’t expect the Federal government to pay for it in the future? The Feds will provide emergency relief in times of disaster, but you will be billed for it.
(5) Above all, why not do as the Constitution intended? Let individuals make their own decisions.
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