Free market ideology vs. Government preparedness.

Editor,
BushCo are now falling over themselves "preparing" for avian flu and all manner of other catastrophes the average citizen assumes that government "prepares" for as a matter of routine.

Since BushCo are free market ideologues, "competition," "innovation," "individual initiative," "personal responsibility," tax cuts for the rich, and deregulation of giant corporations, in their view, "solve" the problem with government -- which is that government "redistributes wealth," "fostering dependency" -- and unregulated free-market global capitalism is the way to "liberty, freedom, and prosperity."

American "preparedness" in everything from education to health care to energy policy to retirement has been systematically dismantled by free market policies since the days of Ronald Reagan. Does anybody seriously believe that all of the services American governments put in place from 1933 to 1980, making the United States the most prosperous and free society in the history of the world, can suddenly be slapped together now that free market ideology is finally agreed to be useless to provide any of what free market ideologues have been throwing out the window for the last 25 years?