I just lived the experience of Hurricane Gustav’s path through Louisiana. and I am not new to this because the Caribbean is my home.  When you go through a hurricane a lot of things go through your mind, fear, impotency, expectation, reverence and awe of nature.   After the whole event is over, and you know that you have literary survived the catastrophic event, then you have to face the small discomforts of your new reality of daily life such as no electrical power, no cell phone use, no Internet and no fresh drinking water. But you take all these discomforts with your newly acquired optimism, endurance and patience, after all you have just earned your stripes as a hurricane survivor.   Nonetheless, paternalistic government believes that it has a right to tell you when can you come back to your own property and to the city you have lived in for decades.

It made me so angry when the mayor of New Orleans, Mayor Nagin, started checking on residents’ ID’s that have cooperated with the government evacuation plans and originally not allowing them back in the city until after a specific date determined by “Big Government”. http://www.examiner.com/a-1569284~New_Orleans_reluctantly_opens_doors_after_Gustav.html. The government also set up a curfew for those of us who stayed during the emergency. When people are most vulnerable, in emergency situations like terrorism and natural disasters,  the government tends to play on those fears to take away people’s freedoms. Yes, some people may go crazy after a storm, a few may even decide to take advantage of a difficult situation and decide to steal from others, but the majority of the population should not be punished by taking away some of their individual rights.   If I want to be out late taking a car ride to look at the scene of the events, or if I want to go back to my private property, I should have that right.  The government should not be the equivalent of people’s parents. Are there risks? Yes. Should people be made aware of those risks by the government? Yes. Should the government decide what risks people can or cannot take, as long as it doesn’t hurt others? Definitely NO.  People should have the right to go home.  If we don’t have a say over small decisions in our lives, then how can we have a say in democratic life.  We need to make sure that fear is not used to rule our lives, especially if it is instilled by our own government.