Blaze Shows how Government Help can be Deadly | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's note: This post, by Jim Tynen, was originally published in Civitas's online edition.

    The news from England is a horrifying reminder of how government's "help" can be harmful and even fatal. It turns out that public housing high-rises there, supposedly meant to provide people with a place to live that would be better than what they could find on their own, are deadly firetraps.

    This was exposed by the fire that destroyed the 24-story Grenfell Tower, killing at least 79 people. The building's exterior cladding was flammable and actually fed the inferno.

    It turns out this is no fluke. The cladding of public-housing buildings is being tested for fire safety and, according to news reports, of the 75 buildings tested so far, 75 have failed. Hundreds more buildings have yet to be tested, but obviously the fear is they too are covered in the same deadly material.

    The news media, with its army of flacks, lauds the good things government does. I'm sure every one of those hundreds of buildings was hailed as a benefit doled out by a benevolent government. Only now is the truth coming out.

    Just remember that the next time a government agency trumpets something it does, and try to think about what unintended harm may come of it.