Blog by Sumana Harihareswara, Changeset founder

02 Sep 2005, 9:20 a.m.

Life, Liberty and Property

Hi, reader. I wrote this in 2005 and it's now more than five years old. So it may be very out of date; the world, and I, have changed a lot since I wrote it! I'm keeping this up for historical archive purposes, but the me of today may 100% disagree with what I said then. I rarely edit posts after publishing them, but if I do, I usually leave a note in italics to mark the edit and the reason. If this post is particularly offensive or breaches someone's privacy, please contact me.

I have been watching CNN. The Houston Astrodome now has its own ZIP code and the people who run it have cleared the Astrodome schedule through December.

What is the proper function of a government? Before everything else - before schools, before unemployment compensation, before alcohol regulation, before the CDC - a government has to protect its citizens from malicious forces inside and out. That's why we have an army and police. Right now there are parts of New Orleans that have fallen into anarchy. Property lost its protection first, but now life has as well. Oh God.