Trusting the Feds

At the inevitable press government conference over the flash-flood deaths in Arkansas, the governor did the usual thing: endlessly praising by name all the various state, federal, and local agencies jockeying for attention. When the media referred to the death scene simply as “a campground,” I assumed it was a socialist one. Indeed, it turns out to be the federal Albert Pike recreation area, where people trusted the government to protect them, and so were willing to camp right next to a dangerous river. Why, if there were a lot of rain upsteam, and so the possibility of a flash flood, the government promised to warn the campers to leave. It didn’t.

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5:07 pm on June 12, 2010