My husband reads 'Backwoods Home' magazine online fairly regularly. 

Whilst he was perusing it this morning, he came across an article by a man named Dave Duffy that I think accurately sums up the role of the government in any national disaster or catastrophy. (Link )

You can read the article in it's entireity by following the link, but I've copied and pasted some of what I felt to be the best parts.

'Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath said what I could not have said convincingly in ten thousand words: The government cannot protect you in a major emergency. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a hurricane, a terrorist attack, or a burglar breaking into your home in the dead of night. It does not matter whether it’s a Republican or Democrat in the White House. In the end, you—and only you—have the power to protect yourself and your family when everything is on the line. To assume otherwise is to dangle your family into the swirling caldron of unpredictable Nature, terrorists, and criminals.'

'you’d think from watching the TV coverage and reading all the media hysterics about Hurricane Katrina that the United States had just suffered some sort of cataclysmic failure in our political structure because the Government wasn’t there quick enough to rescue all the victims of the floods.

Huh? Does the media live in Disneyland? Of course I realize a lot of the coverage was just the left leaning media trying to make their arch enemy, President Bush, look bad. In an effort to put lefties back in power in the White House and Congress at some point in the future, they’ll gladly mislead the public into thinking Government could have and should have rescued all the victims of the hurricane and ensuing flooding.

But here’s the awful truth: If a major disaster, such as another category 4 or 5 hurricane, or a major terrorist attack with, say, a dirty bomb, occurs again, unprepared people will suffer terribly just as the unprepared people of New Orleans suffered terribly. Government, at all levels, is simply not organized (it’s run by bureaucracies, for God’s sake) or equipped to respond quickly to large emergencies.'

'Hurricane Katrina and the inability of Government at any level to respond in a timely, life-saving manner should set off alarm bells in our heads. If you want to protect yourself and your family, don’t follow the advice of the media or opportunistic politicians by voting for a new set of politicians and asking Government to spend billions of dollars on various projects. That won’t do it.

Take your life into your own hands and plan to take care of yourself and your family in an emergency situation. You, any only you, can become the timely power that will save your family when disaster strikes.'

Ne'er a truer word has been spoken, JU.  Ultimately, we are ALL responsible for our own well being and safety.  Period.  No if's, and's or but's about it.  People have GOT to start not only understanding, but enacting that philosophy.  We, as a nation, can't afford to rely on a dysfunctional, corrupt government to get us out of a bind any longer. 

I want to say that I think Hurricane Katrina taught us all that......but I honestly think that some people didn't learn a damn thing from that disaster (except that when the governments gives you 2 grand you should go get that Louis Vuitton bag you always wanted and worry about finding housing later.  I mean, FEMA's got trailers for you to live in and they'll take care of you, right? *sigh*)

What's it going to take before people sit up and take notice to what people like Mr Duffy are saying?  How many more catastrophes have to occur before people learn that they HAVE to be responsible for themselves?