Ken,
PLEASE don't change your smaller government ideology. My own libertarianism was "corrected" in reading F.A. Hayek's The Constitution of Liberty to the view that the central government has a proper role in response to major disasters. That doesn't call into serious question the premise that smaller government is generally better, only that there is a need and a proper response for the central government to marshal the resources to alleviate and respond to large catastrophes. I think the proper compromise is struck with the way FEMA is set up and trains to such disasters, that it is better for local and state to respond first and to call on the feds only when overwhelmed. The theory, at least, is that state and local are still in charge. I have a passing, but not thorough, familiarization with this, as my Navy Reserve unit's mission used to be consequence management and we had to undergo FEMA training to assist in such disasters, but I've never actually been involved in one.
But I still submit that a Reaganite/conservative suspicion of large government and central government is still the safe and best default mode.
