The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’
- Ronald Reagan

This quote is a corollary to that which Henry David Thoreau said, ” government governs best which governs least.” In our world, anytime that anything untoward occurs a hue and cry arises to invoke a governmental solution. Matters that should be handled by private citizens, local governments or state governments, are demanded to be solved by the Federal government. Our founding fathers did not design the constitution to work in this way.

Just ask the victims of hurricane Katrina which occurred two years ago. House after house, neighborhood after neighborhood, block after block, one still sees the cruel devastation and lack of action. In many neighborhoods, the houses lie abandoned with the occasional FEMA trailer parked out front. Where are the people? They wait in FEMA trailer parks, with relatives, and in other towns. They wait for government assistance and intervention. The program authorized to bring these people home and disburse billions in Federal relief is a hazy gumbo of government mumbo-jumbo gone bad. The citizens of New Orleans reelected the very man who bungled the hurricane preparations, evacuation, and aftermath reaction. Elected official after elected official has been accused, indicted, arrested, and convicted in Louisiana. Governmental agencies charged with rebuilding the Levee system are rebuilding a category three system which failed under the pressure of category three Katrina. What happens when the next one is a category five?

Those citizens who have succeeded in recovering have done so on their own. They did not wait for help but pressed forward with the resources they had to reopen businesses and rebuild houses. These are the true entrepreneurs, risk takers. And that is the crux of my argument, that rebuilding New Orleans is a huge risk. Living below sea level, basically unprotected from a storm surge, and certain to be hit with a hurricane in the future, only the hardiest of risk takers should attempt to live in this setting.

The Federal Government owes its citizens life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. These are inalienable rights expressed in the Declaration of Independence but are not a guarantee of happiness. If it makes you happy to pursue living below sea level in a hurricane zone, then you have the inalienable right to do so. However, you have no guarantee of attaining happiness and should not expect such a guarantee from the Federal Government. The Federal Government provides best in its obligations by providing for a national defense and ensuring a stable currency to allow the economy to function. When it does these two things, people are free. Free to achieve or fail, free to express themselves, free to pursue happiness.

The American entrepreneurial spirit is summed up for us in the words of Abraham Lincoln, “Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance on Him, who has never yet forsaken this favored land, are still competent to adjust, in the best way, all our present difficulty.” He does not mention intervention by a Federal Government to save us from our “victim status”.