In addition to the generous outpouring of individual donations to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina, it’s great to see acknowledgement of the many generous private companies who have also been contributing.

People often view private companies as cold machines and forget that they are really just people who have organized to cooperatively create wealth. These people hold the same values as others, and often have particular skills and resources that can help address commonly perceived problems extremely well.

Governments also have particular skills and resources and sometimes we need these to be involved in issues like security and rule-setting to allow us to cooperate effectively. But, often, the best solutions come from people outside of governments; and the best thing that governments can do for us is to maintain the peace, provide some information and resources that may be otherwise unavailable, and stay out of other people’s way.

(Hat Tip: The Agitator)