Everyone knows about the shoot-to-kill order from the governor of Louisiana, so I won't be redundant and post another article about it, but I just have to speak my opinion about the piss-poor set of priorities that this country has (and had even before Katrina).
I will be blunt - our ownership society sucks. The utter greed and vile lust of property in this country is disgusting. Our leaders are willing to KILL us to protect physical property. They are willing to abandon stranded victims of the hurricane just so that they can muster the police forces to stop electronics from being stolen. If anyone has been looking for a wakeup call for a transition to democratic socialism, look no farther than New Orleans.
Almost a third of the population of New Orleans (or what was New Orleans) lives below the poverty line. The number who actually struggle to meet basic needs is even higher do to the fact that the government intentionally keeps the cut-off for the poverty line low, effectively helping to make poverty statistics seem less dire. Nearly a third do not have a car and therefore had no reasonable way to evacuate the city before the hurricane.
Now they are trapped in a cesspool of starvation, homelessness, and disease. Despite this, the White House still has the audacity to complain about desperate people "looting" stores.
All of this boils down to one central problem: the conflict between the right to life and the right to property. When they conflict, life should ALWAYS WIN - no exceptions. I have heard conservative libertarians and other idiot thinkers claim that one person should not be responsible for the well-being of others. Bullshit. No man is an island. If you want to live in a place of apathy, where nobody cares about his or her neighbor, then get the fuck out of our country. It is people like this - namely the people profiting off of the suffering of others - that have ruined our society.
As mentioned in other diaries, anyone who is against big government needs to take a look around them. You wanted small government? Congratulations, you got it, and look where our country is now.
We need to immediately pass/re-enact domestic improvement programs. Establish a national healthcare system. Raise the minimum wage. Provide housing to all who need it. It won't be cheap, but higher taxes equal greater benefits. We need to implement a steeply graduated income tax. Those who can afford to pay high taxes should be taxed the most.
Life is, and always will be, sacred. Property is not. Lawmakers, quit dicking around and fix the problem that the conservatives and their ownership society have created.