Here, here!

Indeed Titus!

And yes, badboy, you did misinterpret my FEMA line just a bit, as I was following up to Titus's previous post that local and/or private entities provided of version of "relief" (either in terms of management or application) that was more effective than did the feds. The entire reason I am in Vegas was due to private charity - a very large construction firm for which my cousin (whom I haven't seen in 22 years) works, had a program set up for Katrina victims of their employee's family members. They asked me, now get this, where in the country (if anywhere) that I would prefer to relocate. The only qualifications were that I could demonstrate the probability of gainful employment once I got there, and that I indeed lived within the federally declared disaster zone of Katrina. Well, no problem on the 2nd, I lived 1.7 miles off the beach in MS. And as a casino dealer finding work in what was still a descent economy in Vegas was all but a given. Within 3 days (of talking to them, not the storm) this company my cousin works for sent me a check for $4000 for moving expenses. Not a voucher, a check, made out to me. They sent me another $2000 once I got to town to get on my (and my 2 sons & then wife) feet, and here's the kicker - they gave me one of their newly constructed homes, furnished, free of charge for 6 months. And the ENTIRE time I spoke directly on the personal cell of the woman whom was the executive of the entire project. She could make decisions and execute them while on the phone with me! Now compare that to the prospect I had were I to stay in Meridian, MS - a $400 Red Cross debit card were I to wait in line for 6 hours. Even the motel I stayed at allowed me 1 week free as we were preparing to move, & after a 3 minute conversation with the manager. My brothers helped me move (1 even went with me), and I restarted my life, & the life of my family 1900 miles away due to the unending generosity of a private construction company, acting with no government mandate. And as I drove the Uhaul paid for by that private company, to my new home across the country, there were people in New Orleans still in the Super Dome sleeping on cots provided by the government - I can't think of a more stark comparison.

NOW - am I knocking the Red Cross or FEMA (who did send me $1,200 4 months after the storm - I forgot that I originally applied 2 weeks after the storm) for not doing "more" or being a "failure?" No. I am making the point Titus did - the federal government, and even the state government (although MS was indeed more efficient than her Western neighbor) simply CAN NOT as efficiently operate relief for her citizens in the way those private volunteers, companies, charities & entities of all stripes can. So why give a government agency the mandate, or my tax money, in the first place?

And that is the point relative to health insurance. I have often said: "Public health care will be like the DMV, only add kidney dialysis." Perhaps for those of us that experienced Katrina a more apt line would be: "Public health care will be like FEMA, only add prostate cancer." And that is the point here. The federal government's responsibilities are specific and enumerated for damn good reason - it simply can not replace the efficiency, resourcefulness and unyielding selflessness that the private sector, and more specifically the individual American, is capable of when he sees his fellow man in need.