[EAS] Preparedness and Survival Generalities

[Botterell, Arthur@CalOES]

I'll listen respectfully to views on government from anyone who've ever served in government.

There's a fundamental duality in our country that can be traced back to Revolutionary days and before... that deteriorated into armed conflict in the 1860s... and that informs so much of the moralizing about politics that we hear so much these days.  Different folks describe it differently, but to me it's the division between the individualist and somewhat romantic ethos of the rural lands and the more interconnected, pragmatic, collective view of the city-dweller.  

Each worldview is appropriate to its own context, but we run into terrible trouble whenever we try to impose one area's worldview on the other areas.

And when did "toughening" the public become the responsibility of government?  Being patronized from one direction is probably no more acceptable than from the other.  The fact is that Americans enjoy a great deal of autonomy, as their sometimes incoherent response to warnings demonstrates again and again.  So if individualism is the answer, what's the question again?

Keeping the water flowing and the streets open ARE responsibilities of urban government and have been for more than a century.  Likewise policing and fire suppression and myriad other things.  At urban levels of population it just isn't feasible to leave those functions to the whim of individuals.  One might argue that America would be better off without cities, but that would be bootless even  if it weren't ridiculous.

Meanwhile, we have (and I'd say, need) both country and city in our nation, and I'm not sure what good anyone thinks can come from insisting that the ways of one should be imposed on the other.

OK, that's said... let the cracker-barrel discourse continue!

Art

-----Original Message-----
From: EAS [mailto:eas-bounces at radiolists.net] On Behalf Of Mike McCarthy

Sadly, most people don't think this way today.  They are, incorrectly, assuming the government will be there to care for them individually all the time. That is simply not possible.

I agree our elected officials have failed at toughening the public. The public is a bunch of whiners who feel it's not their responsibility to keep the potable water flowing, sewers from backing up, and roads passable in a 250+ year event.

MM

On Mon, August 28, 2017 1:41 pm, Rod Zeigler wrote:
> If a storm is coming do not sit back and wait for
Government to tell you what to do and when to do it. Have your own plans made and your own supplies purchased and in hand.