It's sad that Mitt Romney, of all people, has a more libertarian position on disaster relief than the "Libertarian" Party candidate.Of course, it is important to note that while Romney has the rhetoric right, it's doubtful he means a word of what he says. Johnson, on the other hand, lacks a fundamental grounding about what libertarianism is really all about.
Gary Johnson on FEMA: “I think (disaster relief) may come under the basic notion of the government protecting us. There are these natural catastrophies that without the federal government, states aren’t as well equipped.”
Mitt Romney on FEMA: "Every time you have an occasion to take something from the federal government and send it back to the states, that's the right direction. And if you can go even further, and send it back to the private sector, that's even better."
Friday, November 2, 2012
Gary Johnson vs. Mitt Romney on FEMA
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this is hilarious...someone has to make a blog post out of this.
ReplyDeletereality:
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/lets-win-this-motherfuer-white-house-official-delivers-shock-speech-at-phone-bank-rally/
art:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYpfHBicjQk
“I think (disaster relief) may come under the basic notion of the government protecting us."
ReplyDeleteOne more time: a monopoly entity cannot calculate, thus cannot allocate resources properly. Thus, where the response is most critical, the failures are most apparent.
Further, markets have no errors of scale; if it cannot be relied upon to efficiently carry out trivial tasks, why does it follow that it can do so with non-trivial tasks?
"There are these natural catastrophies that without the federal government, states aren’t as well equipped.”
In terms of expertise and local knowledge, the states are vastly better equipped than the federal government. During Katrina, locals set out to aid their neighbors immediately and almost instinctually until they were told to stop by FEMA.
In terms of materiel, I would say yes, but only because of the old business adage, "never use your own money." Why would states spend on disaster preparedness, and thus tax their residents, when they can rely on the federal government to provide it for them? I mean, talk about a "make your own problem and solution" scenario.
I believe Romney believes that disaster relief should be local. The Teton Dam break in 1976 is famous in Mormon circles. A federal official came days after the break. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, with the majority of the population in the affected area, had already gotten things under control. When the federal official tried to take control, he was told in effect to sit down and shut up. Church officials took care of the clean up and rebuilding in the first few days. Government was late and not needed in the first few days. Only 11 people were killed when estimates were it should have been 5000. If only that were the case everywhere. That dam break has had a huge effect on members of the Church, even a statist like Mitt.
ReplyDeleteApparently, Hayek wasn't a libertarian either. He supported the Tennessee Valley Authority.
ReplyDeleteOf course we aren't talking about "libertarianism." We're talking about who is Rothbardian and who isn't. And Joseph Smith Rothbard is the only one with the answers.