How Much Federal Aid Is Too Much?
September 14 | Posted by mrossol | American ThoughtIs this so difficult?
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Amity Shlaes points out that after the floods of November 1927 President Calvin Coolidge said in his State of the Union address that “the government is not an insurer of its citizens against the hazards of the elements” (“A Tale of Two Vermont Floods, 84 Years Apart,” Cross Country, Sept. 3).
Forty years before that, President Grover Cleveland stated that he could “find no warrant for such an appropriation [drought relief] in the Constitution, and I do not believe that the power and duty of the General Government ought to be extended to the relief of individual suffering which is in no manner properly related to the public service or benefit. . . . though the people support the Government, the Government should not support the people. The friendliness and charity of our countrymen can always be relied upon to relieve their fellow-citizens in misfortune. . . . Federal aid in such cases encourages the expectation of paternal care on the part of the government and weakens the sturdiness of our national character.”
In 1794 James Madison said, “I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article in the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.”
Isn’t it time to reconsider the role of FEMA in disaster situations such as the recent hurricanes and flooding, or tornadoes or earthquakes, etc.? Has the pendulum swung too far? As Ms. Shlaes says, “In the end, [Coolidge] manifested the view that presidents can and should inspire and coordinate, but states should take the lead in the recovery.”
Barbara Fotine Atkins – North Las Vegas, Nev.
How Much Federal Aid Is Too Much? — Letters to the Editor – WSJ.com.
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