Where does it end?  It now appears many of our fellow citizens believe the taxpayers of this State and the rest of the country ought to be paying for ANY expenses they incurred as a result of evacuating ahead of Hurricane Gustav.  Gasoline, hotel rooms, meals, and then the food that spoiled left in a refrigerator and freezer should all be covered by FEMA and thus our tax dollars.  I'm talking about areas where Gustav had minmal impact and everyone suffered some inconveniences, but were back to normal in just days.

Folks, personal responsibility has officially received another nail in the coffin.  There are certainly people ill equipped to evacuate because they are poor, lack transportation or are elderly.  There are lots of us who face a financial strain not being at work and having to spend money that was intended to be part of our normal lives, not a hurrication.  Personal responsibility demands that every individual who is capable of doing so must follow the path that will allow them to live in south Louisiana and not require government payouts for only an EVACUATION and return within a few days.  The government on the local, state and federal level provided free transportation, meals and shelter for anyone who wanted it, no questions asked.  Now if you know you have to pay your mortgage or rent with the majority of your next paycheck and you have to evacuate on the 30th of the month should you spend most of your paycheck on fuel, restuarants and a motel room for two to four nights or take advantage of all the above for FREE and save your money for the return home?  Well, according to news reports only about half the free spaces made available to the public were used, tens of thousands went unused.  Many of the people who spent the money they couldn't afford to spend expect the taxpayers to foot the bill for their poor financial decisions.  Someone  turns their nose up at having to stay in a free shelter for a few nights and we get to pay for it.  Those tax dollars could be spent on coastal restoration projects which (obviously not everyone sees this point) do the taxpayers a lot more good than whether someone stays in a high school gym or a Holiday Inn.  Taxpayers pay twice actually, the space made available, but unused and the motel room, meals and fuel.

This, "I want the government to pay for my evacuation" cuts across a wide swath of demographic and socio-economic lines.  We are helping to create a monster so huge it won't be satisfied until it takes our entire paycheck and spits out what it deems we deserve, didn't they try this in the Soviet Union and Cuba?  Didn't we learn from Katrina that the government isn't the solution, that individuals, volunteer groups, friends and neighbors, churchs and others have accomnplished more for our recovery then the local, state and federal government combined!  How quick we are to forget and to foster the growth of the very agency, FEMA, we all have decried for the last THREE years.  Do you want a bigger, badder FEMA?  Keep asking them for help for even minor issues on every disaster around you and you'll soon have a FEMA tax line on your paycheck right above FICA.

It is now evident we need to pray that not only should no hurricane destroy our lives and property, but that no hurricane even force an evacuation or the government will destroy our lives and property by taxing us to pay for it.  I don't know about you, but I am not happy to add hurricane evacuation to the list of Taxpayer Responsibilities!