If a plane crashes, the airline pays for the damages and loss of life. If a train runs off the track and causes damages, the railroad pays. If you have an accident in your car, your insurance pays for the damages. When hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, and the canals and locks failed, drowning many and destroying hundreds of homes, why shouldn’t the owner of the canals and locks pay? The owner is the Army Corps of Engineers, who had been warned repeatedly about the condition of their property. As far as I am concerned, the Corps of Engineers, or more pointedly the U.S. Government, is totally responsible for all the lost homes, furniture, valuables, jobs, and lives lost when their property failed. They are just as responsible as failed railroad tracks, failed airplanes, or careless motorists. What’s the difference? Paying for the huge damages they caused would cost a lot, but not nearly as much as a month’s war in Iraq. Being responsible for the damage they caused would make tens of thousands of citizens whole once again, and they should be made whole.
The residents of New Orleans who lost everything, should be paid for every cent they lost, as well as lost jobs, homes, valuables, cars, TV sets, beds, and everything they once owned, but was lost, due to carelessness of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers who was responsible for their losses. Here in the West, it is common for motorists to hit deer, destroying their cars and even lives on rare occasions. The deer are owned by the individual states, which require permits to shoot state property. Several damaged auto owners have sued states for allowing their property (deer) to interfere with their safe driving on roads for which they pay fees to use, in the form of driver’s licenses and tags. Courts have ruled against such suits, which is no surprise, but I wish the cases would go to a higher court. I just wish all governments, no matter which ones, would be responsible for damages they cause. Or am I wrong?