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National Review Writers Defend County Whose Subscription-Only Firefighters Watched Home Burn Down As ThinkProgress reported earlier this morning, South Fulton firefighters from Obion, Tennessee, last week stood by and watched as a family’s home burned down because their services were available by subscription only, and the family had not paid the $75 fee. As ThinkProgress noted, the case perfectly demonstrated conservative ideology, which is based around the idea of the on-your-own society and informs a policy agenda that primarily serves the well-off and privileged.
Now, leading conservative authors from modern conservatism’s bulkhead magazine, The National Review, have come out in defense of Obion County firefighters’ policy of servicing rural citizens by paid subscription only. The magazine’s commentary on the issue started with a blog post by Daniel Foster, one of the magazine’s staff writers. Writing on the National Review blog The Corner, Foster condemned the behavior of the county, saying that while he has “no problem with this kind of opt-in government in principle,” he sees no “moral theory” under which the firefighters would be justified in watching the house burn down:
I have no problem with this kind of opt-in government in principle — especially in rural areas where individual need for government services and available infrastructure vary so widely. But forget the politics: what moral theory allows these firefighters (admittedly acting under orders) to watch this house burn to the ground when 1) they have already responded to the scene; 2) they have the means to stop it ready at hand; 3) they have a reasonable expectation to be compensated for their trouble?
Yet, Foster’s fellow conservative writers found it hard to tolerate his view that families shouldn’t have to watch their homes burn down as firefighters stand there with their hoses. First, Kevin Williamson responded, comparing the family whose home was destroyed to “jerks, freeloaders, and ingrates”:
Dan, you are 100 percent wrong. [...] And, for their trouble, the South Fulton fire department is being treated as though it has done something wrong, rather than having gone out of its way to make services available to people who did not have them before. The world is full of jerks, freeloaders, and ingrates — and the problems they create for themselves are their own. These free-riders have no more right to South Fulton’s firefighting services than people in Muleshoe, Texas, have to those of NYPD detectives.
Next came Jonah Goldberg, who said that while the story is “sad,” it will probably “save more houses over the long haul” because more people will pay for the subscription fire service:
Here’s the more important part of the story, letting the house burn — while, I admit sad — will probably save more houses over the long haul. I know that if I opted out of the program before, I would be more likely to opt-in now. No solace to the homeowner, but an important lesson for compassionate conservatives like our own Dan Foster (Zing!). As Edmund Burke said, example is the school of mankind and he will learn from no other.
Finally, John Derbyshire joined in. The writer said he was “entirely with the South Fulton fire department” and then launched into a complicated analogy explaining that the firefighters’ actions inject certainty into the surrounding society:
Dan, Kevin: I am entirely with the South Fulton fire department here. In the terms of Nico Colchester’s great 1996 essay, they are being crunchy rather than soggy:
Crunchy systems are those in which small changes have big effects leaving those affected by them in no doubt whether they are up or down, rich or broke, winning or losing, dead or alive. … Sogginess is comfortable uncertainty. … The richer a society becomes, the soggier its systems get. Light-switches no longer turn on or off: they dim.
One of the duties of conservatives in this soggy fallen world is to stand up for crunchiness. For the fire department to have extinguished the Cranicks’ fire would have been soggy, even aside from the considerable degree of sogginess it would have left on the property.
It has been 28 years since conservative historian Doug Wead first coined the term “compassionate conservative.” It now appears that if any such philosophy ever existed, it has few adherents in the modern conservative movement.
Posts: 3827 | From: beautiful California | Registered: Sep 2008
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I watched Keith Olberman interview that guy last night actually, it is a sad situation. What kind of life is this world coming to? It seems like everything and everyone is just falling apart and breaking down to levels that are without common sense.
-------------------- It isn't so much that liberals are ignorant. It's just that they know so many things that aren't so. Posts: 6949 | Registered: Apr 2004
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quote:Originally posted by CashCowMoo: I watched Keith Olberman interview that guy last night actually, it is a sad situation. What kind of life is this world coming to? It seems like everything and everyone is just falling apart and breaking down to levels that are without common sense.
cash, in 2004, i drove cross country (coast to coast) in well under 40 hrs driving time (it was about 35 hours)... i had to take a few naps that i am not counting, but i am counting gas and food stops...but i was able to run close to 100 most of the way cuz the cops either had no funds for gasoline or were on deployment in the reserves... there was nobody patrolling the hiways....
the eoconomy was "fixed" by stimulating housing the next year, but we "overfixed" it and burned it up and now this is going to happen more not less
-------------------- Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise. Posts: 36378 | From: USA | Registered: Sep 2003
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anybody see where these people have homeowners insurance or not? cuz i would assume the insrance co would either require it, and/or actually pay for it themselves...
and if they didn't have homeonwers? well that's a mistake ain't it?
-------------------- Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise. Posts: 36378 | From: USA | Registered: Sep 2003
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It's not only a major concern for subscription services--which as I understand it are relatively rare--but also in communities with volunteer FDs.
For instance, most of West Virginia is served by VFDs, I believe. Workers comp rates for ffs went up significantly, threatening the existence of volunteer companies.
If they shut down? Homeowners' insurance goes up significantly...
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I wonder what the fire dept. would have done in a more urban area? would they have just let the fire spread until it finally hit a house where the home owner subcribed. And then put that one house fire out?
American people fought hard for public police force,public fire dept,and public education. Welcome to conservative America 101 after they get the power to drive the country to ruin. Good luck to repbapigs if they ever need anybody to defend this land. If a foriegn element invaded America with the idea of establishing public sanitation, the invader would be hailed as a liberator.
-------------------- Wise men learn more from fools than fools from the wise. Posts: 3827 | From: beautiful California | Registered: Sep 2008
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quote:Originally posted by raybond: I wonder what the fire dept. would have done in a more urban area? would they have just let the fire spread until it finally hit a house where the home owner subcribed. And then put that one house fire out?
American people fought hard for public police force,public fire dept,and public education. Welcome to conservative America 101 after they get the power to drive the country to ruin. Good luck to repbapigs if they ever need anybody to defend this land. If a foriegn element invaded America with the idea of establishing public sanitation, the invader would be hailed as a liberator.
Let's not get carried away: sure it's an example of what could get worse, but from I what I've read, this particular area has had this in effect for 20 years. The mercenaries who responded said they were there to prevent its spreading to subscribed homeowners.
Although, one must figger Mike Huckabee approves, thumbs up...
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yesterday my neighbor helped his 5yr old kid get on a bike so big that he couldn't put his feet on the ground and give him a push to get going... tells him not to slow down...
he speaks english, is white, and don't have health insurance
-------------------- Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise. Posts: 36378 | From: USA | Registered: Sep 2003
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yesterday my neighbor helped his 5yr old kid get on a bike so big that he couldn't put his feet on the ground and give him a push to get going... tells him not to slow down...
he speaks english, is white, and don't have health insurance
-------------------- Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise. Posts: 36378 | From: USA | Registered: Sep 2003
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I should have written a tad more explaining the idea that this guy probably would not understand what we said if we jump on him for it, let alone have any clue.
One thing is for sure, doesn't matter where people come from, there is always someone that does not have much common sense.
Easy to see in those shows like worlds funniest videos.
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yes i do.... i'm trying to decide whether making a cannon out of PVC and shooting dog food cans across the neighborhood was dumber then shooting (target) arrows straight up in the air.....
-------------------- Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise. Posts: 36378 | From: USA | Registered: Sep 2003
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posted
Shooting arrows in the air was like a kid the other day in our baseball game.
This kid was in the outfield and a ball was hit fairly high over his head, he turn around and started running towards where he thought the ball would go, then all the sudden stopped and put his hands over his head.
Guess he realized at that point what goes up must come down!
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