New Yorkers and the Storm

Staten Island  http://ordinary-gentlemen.com/blog

New York was focused on the upcoming election pitting Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, and then we were suddenly, physically, torn away from that fascination by the super-storm, blithely named Sandy.  It has occurred to me that the sincerity of individuals affected by the storm had been tested to the limits of endurance.

It's been said that there are no atheists in foxholes, and I would argue that there are no conservatives in need of governmental assistance - especially when everything they have accumulated over a lifetime has been washed out to sea.

Breezy Point  http://www.bnqt.com

I want to be clear that I am not viewing this from a distance, safe and secure in the knowledge that it could not happen to me and my family, but rather from a mere block away from where food and water was delivered by the National Guard  to the part of my community, the housing projects, that was flooded out. Okay, so those people were likely not conservatives before, and clearly they are not now. But they are no different, in the way of current need, from other people a few miles away in a comparatively wealthy community, who, up until a scant few days ago, were financially secure and dedicated to the idea that what they had was a result of nothing but their own hard work - as opposed to by birthright and  entitlement. I would also argue that this last group is generally (though certainly not all) representative of the conservative mindset in our society.

New Yorkers Helping New Yorkers  http://www.dnainfo.com

When faced with total loss, with nowhere and no one to turn to,  public generosity and governmental intervention are more than welcome. I wonder if some event were to happen in the life of any very wealthy person, taking from them everything, so that no trace of their wealth remained - how long would conservatism endure?

We are all part of a community of people who understand what it means to stand united and outside of political posturing.

Evaluation: The sincerity of individual New York neighbors supporting all of their neighbors, rich and poor in the face of unimaginable loss: Extraordinarily sincere!