Todd Rokita of Indiana appears to be proud of his young age, and perhaps of his opinions, too:
Rokita, a republican, who holds one of the highest elected offices in the state and is treasurer of the National Association of Secretaries of State, gave his speech Wednesday night in the Indiana Memorial Union as part of the IU Republican Women lecture series titled, "Something to Talk About." During the lecture, he spoke about election reform, economic development and Hurricane Katrina.
The responsibility of reconstruction after the hurricane, he said in a post-lecture interview, should have been placed upon the shoulders of citizens, churches and neighbors. Rokita criticized American reliance on the federal government after the disaster, saying this increased the scope and role of federal government, hindering America's chances of ever containing it.
"I never thought about it like that," sophomore Molly Carpenter said. "I used to think that the federal government did do a bad job. I never thought before that the people should take responsibility."
No, Rokita is not twelve. He is thirty-four. But he thinks like a twelve-year old, a slow developer at that, for only someone very young could think that it's a great idea to have the hurricane victims themselves responsible for the reconstruction afterwards. For that is what "neighbors" means: other people who also lost all they owned.
Then the fascinating idea that "people" should do this stuff, not the federal government. I guess the federal government consists of androids or aliens or robots. Not people, in any case. I never realized that.
Molly Carpenter got one of those "aha!" moments there, didn't she? Maybe she should next think about sick people paying for the costs of their treatment without any insurance, even if they have paid in premia for such insurance for decades. I bet she never thought of that, either! Well, Molly, most hurricane victims have paid federal taxes. Don't they deserve anything from those taxes?
And Rokita, who are the people not responsible for helping hurricane victims? You argue that citizens, churches and neighbors should pay and suffer the negative effects of the reconstruction. Who should not? Who is it in this country that is neither a citizen nor a neighbor, but is still somehow included in the federal government?
Corporations? I'm sure Mr. Rokita will go very far before he gets to be old and wise. If ever.