An Outbreak of Order in NYC
Butler Shaffer at LewRockwell.com - spontaneous order, amongst capable people who responded when circumstances demanded, saved the day for the passengers and crew of US Air Flight 1549. The government had very little if anything to do with it, though you can be sure that they'll try to take credit, and do their best to pretend that they can prevent it from happening again. [lew]
The real work of rescuing passengers and crew members was left to the sources from which the only genuine social order arises: the spontaneous responses of individuals who began their day with no expectation of participating in the events that will henceforth be high-water marks in their lives. After the airliner came to a stop, one private ferry-boat operator, sensing the danger of the plane's tail submerging, began pushing up on the tail in an effort to keep it elevated. Other private ferry-boat operators -- whose ordinary work involved transporting people between New York and New Jersey -- came to the scene in what became a spontaneously organized rescue under the direction of no one in particular. Photos of the area show the plane surrounded by ferryboats on all sides.
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But the statists will figure out ways to exploit all of this for their narrow ends, insinuating their non-existent roles in the rescue. In an effort to reinforce the illusion that their authority carried the day, the politicians -- along with Homeland Security officials -- will likely concoct statutes or other rules in an effort to repeat, in the future, the kinds of spontaneous responses that arose, without design. Hearings will probably be conducted on behalf of some proposed "Water-ditching of Aircraft" regulations -- to be administered by a newly-created federal agency to be housed in the Department of Homeland Security. Thereafter -- and reflecting the governmental responses in New Orleans -- woe be unto any future Capt. Sullenberger who dares to exercise his independent judgment should it conflict with government-mandated conduct. Nor shall this agency be inclined to tolerate the unapproved efforts of ferryboat operators -- or others -- who might dare to act, without prior authorization to save lives.
