Reader Feedback

Joel Kotkin’s superb essay on Hurricane Katrina (January/February) brought into focus a far more devastating problem than simply the floodwaters.

 

Thousands of people remained in harm’s way during the storm because they were so utterly dependent upon government in every aspect of their lives. They could not even take a bus or leave the city with a neighbor or relative without government assistance.

 

Was their inertia grounded in pecuniary impoverishment, or was it an impoverishment of will? Many of the victims of Hurricane Katrina were victims long before the hurricane struck.

In place of the individualism and self reliance that defines America, their lives revolve around government assistance.

 

Of course, the victims of Hurricane Katrina are not alone in this. The grip of dependence is squeezing the manhood out of man. If we learn anything from Katrina, it should be the profound emasculation of will and spirit brought about by abject reliance upon the state.

 

Douglas Hill

Gloucester, Massachusetts

 

 

Regarding “Live” with Robert Kaplan (J/F), what a wonderful interview with a truly engaging chap! Mr. Kaplan’s discussion of “barracks” life is dead on accurate. I rode submarines, so we “bitched” quite a bit. We may have complained about our Skipper bitterly, but we’d have kicked the feathers out of anyone calling us out on it!

 

Tony Harrison

Gaithersburg, Maryland

 

 

I have to agree with Josh Larsen’s take on Walk the Line (J/F). It was a standard musical biopic with terrific concert scenes. I too was bugged by the absence of any treatment of Cash’s conversion to Christ.

 

However: while the omission makes Walk the Line less of a movie, I am glad these particular filmmakers left it out. Given what most bicoastals think about us folks in flyover country, I hate

to think what a mess that Hollywood crowd would have made of Cash’s deep religious experience had they tried to include it.

 

Jack Lavelle

Phoenix, Arizona

 

 

In “Unlimited Government” (J/F), Christopher DeMuth did an excellent job of defining the problems of our government’s growth. As is always the case with politics, however, the difficulties arise in trying to fix them.

 

The root causes of this growth lie in many areas. Some are readily preventable and repairable, some aren’t. I believe these problems have been exacerbated by the concentration of power in only two political parties, which special interest groups have manipulated to produce much foolish legislation.

 

It is nice to see people like DeMuth decrying government bloat. But many Americans, myself included, count themselves long since convinced, and are now more interested in solutions than diagnoses. Good luck.

 

Wayne Skaggs

Wimberley, Texas

 

 

The effectiveness of Christopher DeMuth’s outstanding article (J/F) is undermined by one loose parenthetical observation. On the last page of his piece, he argues that responding to civil emergencies is “unquestionably an important government function.”

 

I question whether hurricane response is an appropriate function of the federal government, at least. Where, after all, is the Constitutional authority for it? I don’t believe I’m the only one to question this.

 

R. Dennis Corrigan

Boxford, Massachusetts

 

 

Christopher DeMuth’s “Unlimited Government” (J/F) is an excellent article. It should be required reading for all members of the federal government. Sadly, I doubt it would do most of them any good.

 

Joseph Cantu

Bellevue, Washington

 

 

I’m going to have to send you a bill for dry cleaning my suit, after profuse amounts of coffee came shooting out of my nose while reading James Lileks’s “Rollick Through 2005” (J/F). It was truly hilarious!

 

Elaine Traylor

Dallas, Texas