This article originally appears in The American Thinker
Hour by torturous hour, the news grows ever grimmer. An event unlike any other in modern industrialized history is taking place right before our eyes. The stories of individual heroism and mob cowardice are obscuring the real story – a story that simply cannot be told because the modern human mind is incapable of processing the images, the words, and the stories they’re telling and make any kind of a coherent narrative or sense out of it.
It is quite simply beyond belief, beyond understanding, and beyond anything in our experience. No modern industrialized city has ever experienced anything like New Orleans is going through in the aftermath of Katrina.
Don’t talk to me about London, Berlin, or Tokyo and the trials that those cities endured during World War II. There is nothing remotely to compare with what’s happening to New Orleans. Those cities were destroyed relatively slowly over a period of years (Berlin and London) or months (Tokyo). But the Noahic flood that now engulfs more than 80% the Crescent City has subsumed not just buildings and people, it has washed away the thin veneer of civilization and brought to the surface behaviors and emotions more suited to the African savannas where modern Homo Sapiens first began to dominate the planet rather than the city streets where until just a few days ago, people were laughing, walking, singing, playing music – living.
What, after all, is civilization? At it’s core, human civilization represents an agreement between people not to kill each other. The only way millions of strangers can live together in relative peace in big cities is by recognizing the unspoken agreement that when walking down the street and approaching someone you don’t know, one refrains from the natural human impulse of fighting for your life. Usually, both parties are in agreement on this singular principal and the hundreds of encounters with strangers we have every day pass unnoticed amid the hustle and bustle of city life.
This is the compact of civilization. I won’t kill you if you won’t kill me. It’s maintained by something even more tenuous; faith. Faith in the strictures an organized society places on people who break the compact as well as faith in the people and institutions who are charged with the task of enforcing those strictures. This shared community of faith works pretty well for all except the social misfits and anti-social galoots who prey upon the weak like predators in a jungle. For the rest of us, we form little islands of support in this larger community – neighbors, our church, our sports teams – which allows us the luxury of feeling less vulnerable to the predators, less alone amidst the millions of strangers.
But something has happened in New Orleans that is unprecedented. We’ve seen it happen on a smaller scale during other natural disasters. The looting, the anger, the despair was evident in the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew in Florida. However, while the area damaged by Andrew may have been just as large as the swath of total destruction left by Katrina, Andrew never quite destroyed the spirit of community and shared faith which allowed Floridians to maintain a patina of civilization that kept them from lunging at each other’s throats and descending to the level of animals whose only thought was of obeying the primal instinct present in all of us for self preservation.
Make no mistake. Unless something truly dramatic happens in the next 48 hours, the situation in New Orleans will degenerate into something heretofore seen only in refugee camps and places like Somalia. People will start forming themselves into mobs for protection. And those mobs will start fighting both the authorities and each other for scarce resources as people get hungrier and thirstier by the hour. We already have seen property owners setting up their own security patrols in sections of downtown. This is from a New Orleans blogger:
Since it’s war out there, I figure it’s time to go back to my military ways.Camp Crystal is locked down for the night. Team SOTI (that’s the crew up here) has broken up into 3 squads. Squad 1 is on diesel detail. Squad 2 is on patrol. Squad 3 is on service and support.
The Final Protective Line is Poydras Avenue. All avenues of approach are secure. Stand to is at 0600.
The cops were out in force on Poydras until just a few moments ago. Not sure what they were upto.
The blogger has a fairly clear picture as to what’s happening on the ground:
I guess what I’m saying is there’s no need to focus on us here, because we’re gonna make do. We need to worry about preventing the city from consuming itself, because the looting is getting nuts, the waters are rising in many heretofor unflooded sections, and there’s no timeline available for power, food, water, medicine and the like for the masses.If you have any survival tips, feel free to toss in your input. I’ve got a lot of survival training, but we’ve never trained for the total collapse of civilization (or I should say, my only training in that regard was from a military perspective).
The “total collapse of civilization” is right around the corner and there’s nothing really to stop it. The authorities first priority is to save the living. Since so many are stranded, trapped, injured, or lost – numbers that may be in the tens of thousands – this is a process that will take days. In the meantime, the flood waters keep rising, the dead go unattended, the looting is getting out of control, people in shelters are getting close to open revolt, and the chances for complete and utter chaos that would cost the lives of thousands of people grows hourly.
Something or someone must intervene to restore the one commodity that could head the chaos off at the pass and put the evil genie of anarchy back in the bottle. That one commodity is hope. Unless people have hope that things are eventually going to get better and get better quickly, they will succumb to the siren song of mobocracy and tear New Orleans to shreds. As it stands now, we’re a hairsbreadth from open warfare in the streets. And if no one can step forward – the Mayor, the Governor, or even President Bush – and give the residents of New Orleans confidence in the future, people will look to their present circumstances and act accordingly.
That way lies madness.
UPDATE: STREAMING COVERAGE
I’ve been glued to this feed from WDSU in New Orleans. It’s getting worse people. Water is still rising due to some confusion yesterday involving the Army Corps of Engineers and some Blackhawk helicopters that were supposed to drop huge, 3000 pound sandbags into the levee breach at 17th street in New Orleans. In fact, all day yesterday CNN and Fox were reporting that this was being done.
In fact, it was never done. Mayor Nagin reports that the copters were diverted to rescue up to 1000 people who were trapped by flood waters and had taken refuge in a church. They’re going to try again today, but the Mayor is obviously frustrated. He has complained that “there are too many cooks” in the kitchen, obviously alluding to FEMA and other federal and state entities who are involved.
Two major situations need to be taken care of in the next 48 hours if New Orleans is to avoid the fate I write about above; the Superdome must be evacuated and the 17th Street levee must be plugged. The mayor reports that if that levee keeps emptying water into the city the entire city will be under at least 9 feet of water.
That’s the entire city.
The problem with the Superdome is unbelievable. Evidently, guns and knives have been smuggled in and there have been 3 shootings in the last 12 hours. Unless those people are dispersed, the situation could get completely out of control and we’d have a war on our hands. That’s why the Governor has ordered the evacuation. The problem is how do you get 20,000 people out of a flooded city?
We’ll know more in the next 12 hours. As always, keep checking with Michelle Malkin for round-ups and breaking news.
UPDATE II: RUMOR ALERT
The report from WDSU of shootings in the Superdome have not been confirmed by any other news organ. In fact, the station’s own site doesn’t mention any shooting incidents at the Dome either. The report came from an on-air interview with a reporter. He was obviously repeating a rumor he had heard.
I apologize for helping to spread that rumor and it points up the need for all of us to be careful about what is published.
8:59 am
Hi Rick,
Very informed piece, but I think your simply wrong about your conclusion that people need ‘hope’ to prevent their animal insticts from taking over.
The generation of the Great Depression had no hope for years, people just simply got by. Iam not sure what Iam concluding, but it is along the lines of right and wrong, helping eaching out in times of crises.
How can one person or an organizatin interven, which many are now, prevent the chaos that may happen? (Aside from the police actually inforcing the law.)
I realize hope is all we have in daily life, but in times of crises there is something more we need, which your article has me thinking about that…
9:06 am
Anyone caught looting anything but water and food SHOULD BE SHOT ON SIGHT ——PERIOD.
9:22 am
Scott:
I’m not sure that the depression generation didn’t have hope in FDR. And at least they had the comfort of some normalcy in their daily lives.
The situation in New Orleans could better be compared to a nuclear device going off. The problem with the flooding is going to prevent any meaningful help getting threw for days – perhaps up to a week. That’s trouble in that there’s no water and little food and not much prospect of getting any to tens of thousands of people until the waters subside.
As for enforcing the law, unfortunately every available law enforcement official is involved in trying to rescue the up to 20,000 people trapped by the flood. That will also take a few days. And unless they declare martial law, the National Guard will not be able to help out either.
9:23 am
KATRINA: “YOU LOOT, I SHOOT”
***scroll down for updates…Louisiana Gov. requesting federal troops…looting in Biloxi*** Darkness is descending on New Orleans, literally and figuratively. Just when you think it couldn’t get any worse, the N.O. Times-Picayune blog reports that th…
9:56 am
Katrina Aftermath VIII Katrina & The Social Order
I’ve been struggling to put into words the thoughts running through my head about what has been unfolding in New Orleans over the past two days. While there is alot of good happening and people being rescued, the looting and shooting seems to be wors…
9:59 am
Looting
The word should go out; looters will be shot on sight. It’s one thing for people to take food and bottled water in an emergency like this; it’s quite another to take a case of Heineken.
10:13 am
Hope. A belief in something greater than what we can accomplish within the grasp of our own two hands. A mental image of something greater than ourselves. Something we can release our fears to, so we can rest when weary. Something that is friendly and caring toward us, instead of set against us.
I thought that was religion. I am sure that would be unpopular. It is NOT hope. It is the environment/actions/feelings that promote hope. Something inside that is missing today. God help us all, there but by grace goes you or I.
10:37 am
Hurricane Katrina Wreaks Havoc
Go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. – Mark 16:15
Tomorrow bloggers will unite in a hurricane relief day to blog and give to the charities of their choice. I’m asking my readers to donate to the Salvation Army. As you…
11:13 am
Even with the levee break, I don’t get these reports of 12 – 15 feet of water in the entire city. Parts of New Orleans are 3-6 feet below sea level, the Times-Picayune said yesterday the lake level was at 6 feet, which is still 5 feet above normal. So at MOST, the lowest areas of the city would be at 12 feet deep if the lake didn’t go lower (which it should) and the water completely equalized with the lake (which it shouldn’t) Areas like the French Quarter that are 4-8 feet above will stay largely dry, by my calculations.
The reports of up to 20 feet of water in places now makes no sense, unless they are counting underpasses or canals. Around the superdome is a low area, and it is only knee deep last I saw.
It seems to me this is a case of not letting the facts get in the way of a good story. There are scenes showed repeatedly where water is flowing from the “lake” that has houses in it into the waterways that have bridges in them. In other words, the storm surge water is flowing out of some of these neighborhoods.
http://www.publichealth.hurricane.lsu.edu/convert%20to%20tables/New%20Orleans%20Study%20Areatf.htm
that has pics of New Orleans elevations, if you can piece the link together …
I lived 3 blocks from the lake for 15 years, and sat out a couple close calls there, and most of my friends are still there, so I am not down playing the current situation. I’m just wishing there wasn’t additional drama being put in to the story, adding to emotional distress.
But I could be wrong.
Bill
11:22 am
Bill:
I hope to God you’re right.
However, I watched an interview with the Mayor who was ticked off at the Army Corps of Engineers because of the delay in trying to plug the levee. He specifically said that if they can’t plug it by this afternoon, that the water would rise to the level of the lake which is 5 feet above sea level. This is the same interview where he said “The bowl is filling.” Since the city is 4 feet below sea level, his engineers are telling him that there will be 9 feet of water (+5 + 4) throught the entire city.
I hope he’s wrong. But official reports from FEMA are saying that the water is still rising as off 11:00 AM today. Water that’s ankle deep now as it is in the French Quarter could be hip deep by 3:00 PM and if they can’t plug the levee (a huge task given the break is more than 200 feet wide) damage will be total.
11:37 am
[...] il I stumbled across this post that pretty much says everything I was gong to say anyway: The Compact of Civil Societies via Michelle Malkin [...]
11:53 am
The Compact of Civilization
Rick Moran over at The American Thinker has a great piece up about the looting and rampaging going on in New Orleans:
11:54 am
Jim:
Is it too politically correct to say that your comment is the most vile, racist, not to mention stupid comment ever left on this site.
In case you’re wondering…that’s why I deleted it.
11:59 am
Hey Rick,
I think some areas have “puddles” in them that aren’t draining. That is why some of the French Quarter may be ankle deep, by my estimation. That map I linked to puts the quarter at 1 to 16 feet, so even at lake level it would be ok.
I guess the people in the middle of this aren’t getting the news anyway, so it probably won’t cause panic, but it still seems irresponsible to say they are all about to be inundated when they are actually ok, at least from a flood water point of view.
I keep thinking they should sink a couple loaded barges in the opening, which is maybe their plan, but it ain’t happening. Not an easy situation though …
12:02 pm
Correct me if I’m wrong but the Governor just ordered the evacuation of the entire city. Did Blanco do it because of the levee breaks? Or because of the breakdown in services?
Whatever the reason, there’s never been an evacuation of a major American city. That alone is going to cost lives.
12:59 pm
As sad as these developments are we are simply seeing old homo sapiens acting as he always does. Perhaps to use PC jargon, “acting out”.
This stuff is normal as can be. It is exciting and darned fun to run with your friends, kick up the heels, take whatever you find that tickles your fancy, and do a little “ultraviolence” as Anthony Burgess put it. To kill a few just to watch them die. “Born to be Wild”, don’t you know.
You say, “And if no one can step forward – the Mayor, the Governor, or even President Bush – and give the residents of New Orleans confidence in the future, people will look to their present circumstances and act accordingly.”
I don’t know how, seriously, a politician’s speachifying will make any diffence. As far as “hope in the future” goes, most of those causing the disruption see the future as what to eat for lunch.
“That way lies madness.” you say. Well, I totally disagree. What we are watching is just one aspect of human nature, and really, very likely the default state of humanity.
Perhaps you see all of this as clearly as I do. By your talk I would then be forced to see you as radical pessimist. That is a very bad road to travel, mate. Buck up.
1:37 pm
Katrina: Worse and Worse
Rick Moran has post on the Compact of Civil Societies and how it’s rapidly coming undone in New Orleans.
2:19 pm
I think it is important to realize that this disaster is really nothing new to the nation’s disaster mitigation and relief agencies.
Yes, it appears to be larger than many in recent times, but the same sorts of things have been dealt with in the past. Hurricane Andrew was one such example. The midwest floods on 1993 is another. In that one, 250,000 people were without water in one day, in Des Moines, Iowa. Granted, some people are still feeling the long-term effects of Andrew and others, but that event didn’t signal the end of Western Society as we know it, and neither will this one. As we read this, unprecedented amounts of aid, manpower, and resources are being surged toward the region. People are being rescued, relocated, and set up in refuges. Plans are being made to mitigate and repair the damage. All these things take some time, and massive cooperation and coordination, but they are happening.
The best thing we can do, if we’re not directly involved, is to not give up on the area. Keep supporting the Red Cross and Salvation Army, so they can provide the support they ALREADY KNOW HOW to give. The disaster services folks, KNOW HOW to get the resources where they are needed. The Guard, and civilian authorities, like FEMA, KNOW HOW to deal with this. Give them the time and support they need to do their jobs.
2:31 pm
I think what we are beginning to see is what happens when a society’s infrastructure is virtually destroyed or at least severely damaged.
Picture this in New Orleans via a hurricane, and then, within days, in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles via a chemical or nuclear attack and you can get an idea of how vulnerable we can be.
I would think that if OBL has the means but is waiting for the right time, now would be that time.
5:44 pm
Jay is the first person I’ve seen in this whole post and comment thread (including you, Rick – but please correct me if I’m wrong!) who has mentioned the power of charitable organizations. America is a loving and generious country; just look at the outpouring from us to the tsunami victims last December.
Rick, you say that we need “hope.” I say that we need serious commitment from Americans to step up and give, as they’ve never given before.
Once the access is available to the city (and thousands of sq mi all the way to Alabama), getting food and water and a place for refugees to stay will go far toward curbing the uncivil violence. (And yes, looters should be SHOT ON SIGHT)
Here’s what the blogosphere can do:
1) GO HERE to get a blog banner that links directly to the Am Red Cross. (no it’s not my site)
2) Give, and be generous!
6:57 pm
Well, at last look, best I could tell, the water was equalized ar the break in the levee. An earlier shot it looked like it was flowing out. I think the lake has dropped to closer to normal, one foot above sea level.
I’ve lost some confidence in the army corps of engineers, at least the guys talking on CNN. The last one said they were thinking of closing off the whole 17 st canal (this after the flow has stopped?). They need that canal for discharge from the pumps. The guy before said the whole city is 18 feet below sea level (the low parts are 3 to 6 feet below). I hope the smart guys are so busy that they are sending the bozo’s off to talk on CNN. Just my opinion.
NOLA.com (Times Picayune site) said in Orleans the water level is stable or falling, in Jefferson (to the west) it is rising. Lotsa work ahead … I guess sending money to the honest organizations is the best thing to do … glad you and michele and all are working to find the good charities
Bill
8:00 pm
If you knock a bottle over, what is inside comes running out. Adverse circumstances reveal the internal character of people. People keep saying we are ‘paying the piper’ either for environmental oversights, or for failure to anticipate and solve the problems in the New Oleans levee system. I say we are ‘paying the piper’ for a long and gradual moral meltdown. Fifty years ago this kind of looting, violence and ugliness would not have happened under the same circumstances. The Ten Commandments have disappeared for our schools and courthouses. Parents and grandparents have stopped teaching their children that there is right and wrong behaviour. They have stopped teaching respect for people and property. Fifty years ago people, whether religious or not, saw themselves as responsible for their actions and answerable to a higher authority. If you see yourself as an animal, driven only by physical needs and instincts, why not steal what you want? Why not kill somebody when you get mad? Why should you not do anything that pleases you? After all, don’t we each determine what’s right for me? There is no answer to that outside of a picture that includes a God to whom man is answerable. Our culture and society have sown the wind and reaped the whirlwind. God, morals and right and wrong have been removed from our society as a whole, and it can only be put back one person at a time.
1:36 am
Katrina unreality
The scenes taking place in New Orleans the aftermath of hurricane Katrina – robbing, stealing, police powerless, dead corpes floating in the water no sanitary systems working etc. – are completely unreal. Reminds me most of one of the many well known…
6:28 am
[...] URRICANE RELIEF BLOG-A-THONRELIEF FOR SUPERDOME REFUGEESFOR THE LEFT: A COMPASSION VACATION [...]
8:15 am
You write: “At it’s core, human civilization represents an agreement…”
Dude – “IT’S” means “IT IS.” Would have loved ot post this for my students….
8:51 am
Katrina Bringing Out the Worst and Best of America
First: I’d like to take a moment to ask you, kind reader, to give whatever you can in support of the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Because, despite the wreckage and mayhem of perhaps the most catastrophic natural disaster to befall our nation in…
3:38 pm
[...] EARN SOMETHING NEW EVERYDAYRELIEF FOR SUPERDOME REFUGEESFOR THE LEFT: A COMPASSION VACATION [...]
5:03 pm
What about Hiroshima you ignorant bastard.
5:06 pm
This is nothing compared to the Tsunami.
5:14 pm
Read John Hersey’s account of the aftermath of the attack on Hiroshima. In fact, the damage done by the bomb was confined to an area of about 3 square miles. Most city services (including street cars) were operating. Hospitals were running, albiet overwhelmed. Police were on the job and looting was kept to a minimum.
Electricty was out but the water service was working. The problem was the fires that were so numerous that the fire department couldn’t deal with them.
Hiroshima was in no where near as bad shape as New Orleans. But hey! What do I know, I’m ignorant!
And the tsunami did not affect any city of more than 25,000. A much different situation than a city 20 times that size. Banda Aceh was the largest city affected but was barely scraped by the waves, thank goodness. Besides, one could hardly call Banda Aceh a modern industrialized city.
7:46 pm
Rick, I’m starting to re-think my initial reaction to reading this post the other day. It.just.gets.worse.and.worse.
And yet, I still refuse to lose my belief in Humanity. What we’re seeing out there with the lootings and rapes and murders and mayhem—that’s not Humanity. It is human sewage with legs.
Humanity now must fix this. First thing tomorrow, Congress better declare Martial Law. And then, Shoot To Kill should be enforced. The Natl. Guard reinforcements would certainly help.
9:38 pm
The more I think about this the more annoyed I get. It seems to me like this will be a great excuse for people to come out and say people are looting because they’ve lost hope or faith or religious belief. Only one of those trends isn’t true. Religious belief has been increasing in this country and been very heavy in that part of the country.. that’s not it at all. The problem is disenfranchisement. Many peopl down there don’t think of themselves as americans… heck I bet many of them don’t even think of themselves as southerners. They have been taught or convinced or whatever for so long that society is out to get them and they don’t have the education or exposure to the world to know better. And before anyone jumps on me for being racist or some such.. I’m not talking about a race.. I’m talking about an entire class of people. And it just so happens that the effected area has more of them than almost any other part of the country. The class of people I’m referring to are the poor and uneducated… The reasons for the clustering are long and detailed and I’m not saying I would even kow who to blame, but I still think that is the root of our problem. To say it’s human nature is to forget about all the other disasters in the world and even in this country where the breakdown of morals has been nowhere near as pervasive or quick..
10:24 pm
The news media has failed to give an adequate appreciation of how devastating to the rescue and relief effort the looting and violence have been. Thousands of National Guard troops that might otherwise be giving aid instead must focus on restoring order. Thousands more rescue and relief workers have been delayed or diverted because no one can in good conscience send these people into a war zone.
It’s not the rescuers’ fault, or the National Guard’s. When one is fired upon, there are only two rational responses: return fire or retreat. Their rules of engagement called for the latter.
When time is critical, delays are deadly. What happened when the rescue and relief efforts were delayed should come as no surprise to anyone. While armed thugs looted and pillaged, innocent victims died.
Primary responsibility for the consequences of the looting and violence should be placed where it belongs – with those who committed the looting and violence. The theft of anything not immediately needed to sustain life and any acts of violence can not be excused, and should not be rationalized. They are simply evil, and should be regarded as such.
Meanwhile, ABC News reported last night that, at the New Orleans Convention Center, the largest emergency shelter after the Superdome, there was NOT A SINGLE PERSON from the city government. This is not inadequate preparation or even incompetence—it is a gross dereliction of duty. The person ultimately accountable for this is not the President or even the governor. It is the mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin.
Nagin’s “disaster plan” apparently consisted of the following:
1. Make sure my family and possessions are safe.
2. Get my sorry a** out of town before all hell breaks loose.
3. Hide and, while hiding, prepare my talking points for when the national media arrives.
4. Blame all failures and consequences on others, especially Republicans and the President.
What a sorry piece of excrement this mayor is. Yet, if he were to stand for election against a white man today, who do you think would win?
I’m sick and tired of political pimps like Nagin blaming those who had to save their sorry a**es from the consequences of their own corruption and incompetence.
1:13 pm
I’ve seen the photos and video. I have a lot of empathy for what people are going through. However, I have no sympathy for people living in their own filth – expecting someone else to clean up after them. How can the refugees sit impassively on the curbs and sidewalks, apparently indifferent to the fact that there is garbage and waste all around them. Surely there are janitorial supplies to be found somewhere. Get some rubber gloves, and take the initiative to organize yourselves to muster up some human diginity.
The looting that is reported to be taking place is not where we should be focusing our attention. That is simply an expression of one of the baser sides of human nature. Everyone in America is being “looted” right now with the price of gas. It is more subtle, and does not involve broken glass or armed threat – but it is the exact same attitude of “let’s get what we can while we can”. And, you can expect it to show up in more avenues of our daily life than just gas prices. It will be in the con artists who promise to help refugees and in the myriad of scams intended to draw money from your pocket while making you think you are helping. And finally, it will come from our government – in the tax breaks you can bet that the administration will insist on passing through so that oil companies can avoid dipping into their profits in order to rebuild the economic infrastructure the region relies upon.
In short, the personal property looting is just a drop in the bucket compared to the legitimate gouging everyone in this country will face to one degree or another. Villians come in all shapes and sizes, and some wear three-piece suits.
5:01 am
I would suggest the critical error in the aftermath was the decision not to stop looters in the days immediately after the storm.
If law and order had been made the 1st priorty, then the city of New Orleans and other areas would have remained safe for citizens and unarmed relief workers of all agencies.
The same would apply to the US arrival in Bagdad or the British in Basra. (Obviously that would require a large number of arabic speaking troops/police. Which the UK with >1M muslims should have.)
It is interesting to note lower scale looting in Biloxi and after Hurricane Andrew. How good is the correlation between abandoning basic law enforcement and collapase of law and order?
Certainly the reports of the US Army & Airforce personnel having to protect the internationals within the Superdome suggest that much the violence and looting is not for the purpose of survival.
Separate question: just how long would it take to wade out of New Orleans, 5-10 hours? I’ve not been there so can’t picture it.
2:23 pm
[...] seen to this degree even after 9/11 in New York City. For an interesting read, check out The Compact of Civil Societies from the RightWing NutHouse, H/T [...]
10:53 am
[...] Or as Rick Moran notes in his “Rightwing nuthouse”-blog: Katrina has washed away the thin veneer of civilization and brought to the surface behaviors and emotions more suited to the African savannas where modern Homo Sapiens first began to dominate the planet rather than the city streets where until just a few days ago, people were laughing, walking, singing, playing music – living. [...]
5:14 pm
[...] UPDATE Go here for a cogent essay that totally nails the topic discussed in point 4 above. [...]
1:41 pm
[...] Over at Right Wing Nut House, Rick Moran has an excellent essay that addresses this issue called The Compact of Civil Societies. [...]
1:36 am
[...] Worth reading: Rick Moran’s The Compact of Civil Societies. [...]