New Orleans is one of the most left-wing cities in America. It is traditionally more European in outlook, with the famous French Quarter, and has a collectivist political history.

Today on 24-hour news, we saw the devastation wreaked in New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina, and the efforts of emergency crews and the US military to evacuate those left behind. The Red Cross, the Salvation Army, Feed The Children, AmeriCares, the Brother’s Brother Foundation, the Christian Relief Fund, Convoy of Hope, Mercy Corps, World Emergency Relief and many other charities are taking part in the relief effort. Individuals and celebrities have pledged support and organised telethons, of which there are now dozens. Emergency funds have been released on statewide levels. And the US federal government have released $10,000,000,000 in immediate aid, which they indicate is only a downpayment, while the federal emergency authorities (eg FEMA) have been swinging into action.

Yet from the heart of socialist New Orleans, they are complaining that the food is horrible, and not hot enough. They are “angry”, apparently. The Mayor says that the aid efforts so far are a “national disgrace”. People are rioting and “feel let down” (AP News). They are looting, not food and essential supplies, but TVs and jewellry. As National Guard troops arrived with food, water and medicine, they catcalled, “What took you so long?” “They should have been here days ago.”

Here’s what else Mayor Nagin said: “[State and federal officials] need to get off their asses. …. You would think on day five of the worst natural disaster in the history of the nation, and possibly the world, we would not still be waiting for troops and buses.”

I understand his sense of urgency, and even his frustration. But I don’t understand his sense of entitlement, nor that of his fellow Orleans residents. “People are angry” (AP News). That’s an interesting observation. You’d think they would be ‘grateful’, or ‘happy to see help’, or ‘thankful for aid’, or ‘supportive to each other and the emergency services’, or even just ‘desperate’, but NO. They’re “angry”. Well, to be totally honest, I’M damned-well angry listening to them. Their entire attitude is irritating…. moreso maybe even than their looting.

But what else can be expected from a society that has only ever known government welfare? A socialist community is a community that looks to government for everything: for their basic rights and essentials. They collect their cheques every week and feel entitled to them, they expect the government to nanny them and pick them up when they fall and cushion them from everything bad and therefore, when something big and nasty happens like a hurricane destroying their homes, they don’t just look forward to, or expect the aid of others; they feel ENTITLED TO it. Rather than be grateful for it, they will snatch it from the hands of those providing it as though it were theirs all along. Why? Because they have no understanding of self-government, or personal responsibility, no concept of getting off their lazy, fat, well-sheltered assholes to try and help themselves.

They are ‘victims’, and if the truth be told they’d RATHER be victims than be conquerors of their own destiny. THIS is the result of leftism. THIS is the product of New Orleans-style politics. And the proof is in the pudding. Where are the self-governing, rational individuals? Where are the workforce, the entrepeneurs, the small-business owners? Where are those who work hard to support their families rather than simply collect welfare?

The answer may not be that surprising: THEY HAD ALREADY LEFT.

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John Wright