Conservative Donnybrook

Hurricane Ike roared into Galveston yesterday evening. The National Weather Service issued a warning that anyone who failed to evacuate the barrier island risked almost “certain death” in the face of Ike. Nonetheless, thousands of residents decided to ride out the storm and take their chances. Now the survivors of that storm are begging the government to save them. Texas Governor Perry has mobilized 7,500 national guardsmen who will now foray into the devastated community on a search and rescue mission.

Certainly, all of America prays that those who stayed behind have survived the ravages of Ike. But, at the same time, it is appropriate to express some exasperation to those residents who presumed against the good will of the American people and its government for nothing more than to feed their own egos. Their bravado will now unnecessarily place other Americans at risk in order to bail them out. Maddeningly, I’m sure that many of the people who stayed behind would be the first to argue that they don’t need the government to tell them what to do. They would consider themselves to be self-reliant and not dependent upon the government. They have learned otherwise this morning. What they have hopefully learned today is that the exercise of personal responsibility must be combined with prudence. After Katrina and now Ike, perhaps next time a major storm threatens to obliterate a coastal city, its residents will act more prudentially. Probably not.