Seems to be a responsible view - everyone looking out for themselves in case a disaster strikes. Makes good sense really.......
However, look at what happened. The State level of government was just as smashed up as everything around it. It would seem that after they went through the storm it sort of washed away any logic along with it. The federal government has a play in this but I'm not American so I'm not sure what that is. So, you hunker down with 5 or 6 days worth of food and water. Everything looks bad and then when the dam breaks you find that your house is sitting in 10 feet of water. You move upstairs or in the attic to get away from certain death. Your food and water is down stairs in the fridge where it's now contaminated and you couldn't get to it anyway.So much for being prepared. A few years ago we had an ice storm that covered most of eastern Ontario and Quebec. The main power lines all fell down and most of the area was with power for quite a while. The army was in there by the next day or so. Anyone needing power for essential services were donated generators to keep things going. Anyone who heated with wood wasn't too bad off and some people even stayed in their barns with livestock just to stay warm. Travel in this area was almost impossible with heavy sheets of ice covering everything. People were uncomfortable, frustrated and worried but for the most part they felt reasonably safe. I don't think there was too much looting. In short - everyone pulled together. There was almost no fore warning for this storm and few people had more than what you or I would have around the house at any given time as far as supplies go. Oddly, candles were in short supply along with flashlight batteries which we shipped in by the truck load. Few people really understand what it's like to go without power for a few weeks. In the winter everything will freeze solid after a day or so. You can move to a place down the road or to a shelter but you may come back to nothing if there isn't any law and order in the area. Up here if things get too out of hand the PM invokes the War Measures Act. It happened before in about 1970 when the FLQ got out of control in Quebec. People were rounded up and there was martial law from what I remember.
