How Chaos is Born

First of all, here is an article attributing the lawlessness in New Orleans to the welfare state.  The author makes some good points, but it is an incomplete analysis.  The gist of the essay is that people who have never owned anything have no concerns as to what might happen to their property.  People who have been taken care of by the government will expect to be taken care of by the government in a crisis.  People who have never concerned themselves with the state of their business will not hesitate to loot from abandoned businesses. 

And the missing piece is this:  People who do not have social supports are repeatedly stranded.  If a hurricane were to destroy my home in Savannah, I can, without thinking, name 10 families in Atlanta and other cities who would take my family in. I have those social supports, as does my wife, as do our parents.  Because we would take in any of those families without question.  People who sever ties with friends, who choose to never align themselves with any group, church, or culture, have nowhere to turn in times of crisis. 

When I'm counseling someone homeless, I often suggest that they begin affiliating with a church.  Not because religion will help them, though it certainly might, but because religious people like to help people.  And they start with their own.  Additionally, such associations tend to make better people of the clients, too.  They want to be able to return favors that were from individuals, not government.  Wanting to do for others is the cornerstone of a civilized society.  After all, if you never consider anything larger than yourself, larger than your own life, what would stop you from looting?

Of course, that was the theory behind welfare in the first place.  We're a civilized society, so we should do for those less fortunate.  The problem is that if such charity is filtered through government, those who give (more exactly, are forced to give) resent it, and those who receive have no one to feel indebted to, so there is no motivation to return the favor.  That's how entitlement starts.  The government creates various programs (for instance, job training programs for single-mother recipients of TANF - Temporary Aid to Needy Families.  However, the funding for the programs were based on certain data analyses, and presumed that anyone qualified for the programs would certainly participate.  They don't.  And what happens is, social workers who are depending on these programs to stay employed will go out of their way to recruit women into them.  It happens when food stamp recipients don't meet expectations, too.  Your tax dollars are paying people to find people to give more of your tax dollars to.  I've seen it a hundred times. 

So, when people are coming to you, asking you to please take this government money, are you going to say no thank you, I've already got a job busing tables?  Or will you realize that the government money comes with health benefits, direct deposit, job training, and a retirement plan, and decide that maybe working is just what other people do. 

But when someone opens their own door, doesn't just feed you but sits down and eats with you, brings down clean sheets that they washed, and makes up the sofa bed for you, you're a little more inclined to accept as little of their hospitality as you have to, and to pay it back in whatever way you can.  But entitlement breeds resentment and contempt.  Like the guest who acted like you were just expected to provide for them, letting you know which piles of their laundry need to be washed on cold.  You will not be so quick to offer your home to them next time.

Well, that's what appears to me to be happening in New Orleans and around the world.  Your thoughts?

Best,
Mr. P.