“We’re stuck here without a clean-up crew!”

The hard-hitting truth is that, for far too long, Americans have been lulled into a false (and dangerous) sense of security wherein they believed the government would take care of them during any situation, swiftly and completely. I will refrain from assigning political blame for that, what’s done is done.

This “government will save me” mentality is simply wrong-headed and potentially fatal—and unfortunately, the new American way. The truth is, the government is a slow-moving machine, even under optimal conditions.

This “where is the government” scenario is playing out again and again, by the minute, in flood-ravaged New Orleans as the rowdy crowds left behind are growing angrier and more violent with each tick of the clock. New Orleans is not a small town. The rescue effort will need to be massive to make a dent. And that still won’t be enough for many of those living in New Orleans and part of Mississippi.

An unidentified man stranded at the New Orleans’ Super Dome, referring to the filthy and unsanitary and unhealthy restrooms, remarked angrily, “We’re stuck here without a clean-up crew!”

Just where exactly is that bathroom clean-up crew supposed to come from? Local officials? State officials? Federal officials? The staff of the Super Dome maybe? There are reportedly 15,000 flood victims currently “living” in the Dome. How many clean-up crews would it require to adequately maintain that facility? Obviously, it is not a sane situation. “Clean up Crew” is clearly simply a metaphor for “Government.”

What happened to the days of people banding together to overcome their conditions? Instead we now see people demanding that the government do something immediately. This day has been coming for years. Politicians have persuaded people that the government is the all-encompassing answer to all questions and problems.

It just ain’t so folks. It never has been. We have been very lucky for a very long. And in recent years it seems our luck may be running out. Few people today have any real appreciation for the “soup lines” of the 1930s. “Disaster” has generally just been something we watched on the nightly news—happening to someone else—half-way around the world.

You have to hope that for every terrible situation that is being reported, someone, somewhere there is doing something as equally heroic that just isn’t being reported. Good news travels fast, bad news always travels much faster. We won’t hear the good stories until much, much later. Pity.

If you don’t own a gun, you should. It not just a New Orleans situation. It could happen to you. Tornadoes, floods, earthquakes, natural gas leaks, etc. We are all susceptible to being in a situation exactly like New Orleans is facing. If you think not you are just kidding yourself.

If you don’t have bottled water, flash lights, batteries, first aid supplies, and a reserve of food stashed away, you should. Today New Orleans, tomorrow, your neighborhood. Don’t be caught surprised, be caught prepared. You can’t plan for it after it happens.

Like New York after 9/11, life will never be quite the same in New Orleans, but life will go on. It always does. That’s really the American way.