Reply #94: it exists

[William Z. Foster]

The legal authority already exists for the government to step in and manage this emergency.

The point is the government has been exercising that authority - and then some - to persecute poor people and blow up half the world and cater to the whims and desires of the wealthy few all along. Why now suddenly is this some big concern of yours, when the welfare of the public is at dire risk? It is just mind-boggling.

Emotional gratification? WTF are you talking about? Libertarianism may be giving people some part of emotional gratification - it certainly is causing sever damage to their ability to reason or think clearly, so their rigid adherence to Reaganism must be based on emotion. But you actually think that calls for a robust federal response to this catastrophe are merely about emotional gratification?

Responding to emergencies such as this is the main reason we even have a government at all.

Good grief, the feds placed the poor people of New Orleans under martial law (one of thousands of examples of the exercise of federal authority to protect the rich people) and you question whether or not it is appropriate or the government has the authority to rein in BP? Stunning.