To be sure, the report and subsequent legislation sired a massive bureaucracy -- the FCDA and its inertia-bound grandchildren, FEMA and DHS. But rather than making this a jumping-off point for a harangue about bloated government, I want to focus attention on a simple illustration in the NSRB document.
"The National Civil Defense Pattern" appears on the report's second page. It depicts four concentric rings of civil defense, from local to federal. Notice what's at the center of the pattern:
THE INDIVIDUALAlso within the inner circle are NEIGHBORHOOD and COMMUNITY. Governments occupy the outer rings -- "if needed" and "as needed."
Calm and well-trained
THE FAMILY
The base of organized self-protection
A 61-year-old cartoon got the concept of preparedness exactly right. Ideally, it begins with individuals taking personal responsibility for their own readiness. Individuals build a "base of self-protection" within the household, on the family.
Readiness spreads from homes to neighborhoods and communities. Reliance on government is a last resort.
Look at where we are today, as a nation. We lean on government like a drunk on a lamppost. We're soft, complacent and dependent -- and we're not ready. Only tin-hatted kooks think about preparedness and home defense, don'tcha know. Hell, nearly half of all Americans want to rob the rest of us of the right to defend ourselves.
The difference between that old civil-defense illustration and what we've become is the difference between Fargo and New Orleans.
We can't fix this ill-prepared culture of entitlement -- really, we can't -- but we can refuse to be part of it. We can declare independence from the dependent masses and act in the best interests of our families, our neighborhoods and our communities.
We know that preparedness begins at home, and we don't need government to help us take care of business.
