Governmental role during a zombie attack?

[Philly_SWAT]

Government, in particular the American government, if it worked the way it is supposed to on paper, might be able to do something helfpul and efficient in the event of a zombie outbreak. Unfortunately, the way government actually is, the hope of them helping on a massive scale is laughable at best. In anything, the military would be our only hope, guys that are used to make quick life and death decisions without wading through oceans of bueracracy. I doubt they would be able to mobilize quickly enough in any event. Once the outbreak got going on a large scale, say, like it was at the beginning of Dawn, one huge problem that people fail to mention would be the breakdown of the distribution of goods. Food, gas, and "survival-type" stuff (tents, tarps, hatchets, etc) would no longer be distributed. I found out here in Florida a couple of years ago after the mulitple huricanes came through. They didnt really hit this area. There was damage here and there, but not that bad compared to other areas of the state. What happened was, the power went out. Gas stations, even tose with gas, were non-functional due to the power outage. Blocked road into this area kept trucks from being able to enter. Whenever a gas station opened, there were HUGE lines of people desparate to get gas. Local supermarkets had to throw away large amounts of spoiled food. Water, batteries, etc., were gone from stores very quickly, with no re-supply coming anytime soon. And this was in an area where people were still obeying the law, not looting, etc. We had reasonable faith that eventually, roads would be cleared, power would be restored, and goods would be back in stores. Imagine in a zombie outbreak, how many OTR truckers would want to be bringing goods to stores? Gas, food, and supplies would be gone in short order. The only place to find anything at all would be your neighbors house. Mass chaos would result. The government or the military would not be able to control the chaos due to the lack of necesities. That would be the main reason to "head for the hills", not due to the lack of zombies there, but due to the lack of the living there.

[darth los]

If it happened today we'd be really screwed because the bulk of our military and national gaurd are in iraq and afghanistan. I've always said that in emergencies where supplies are scarce the biggest thing you would have to fear is other humans who want what you have and would be willing to kill you to keep themselves and their family alive.

[jim102016]

They can't even handle a hurrican let alone the walking dead. Katrina really destroyed the idea that you can count on the gov't in the event of a catastrophe of that scope. I was down in Biloxi, Mississippi for Hurricane Katrina. Despite all the race-card publicity that went to New Orleans....the eye of the hurricane hit southern Mississippi causing hundreds of billions of dollars. I saw armed national guardsmen block off and patrol the main beach road that contained a dozen ruined casinos, and I saw state police from all over the nation on the streets directing traffic. Hell, I even saw military policemen in Walmart at closing time to discourage any trouble. Lots of assistance came down to help, but the scale of damage can not be imagined. I had packs of looters in my parking lot, people pulling guns on each other at the gas stations, and no power for a while. I think crime went up 300% in the months afterward? It can't be understood unless you were there to see it. Although one couldn't do much under these circumstances, my point is that you have to take some responsiblity for yourself. You can't just sit around and bitch about the president failing you because you're this nationality or that religion, you have to get off your ass! There are too many people reliant on the state/federal government today, the American sense of self-reliance is all but extinct. I think if the dead came back to life, the government would be quickly overwhelmed by an uncooperative public who refused to do the necessary dirtywork on their own. We'd be f*cked.

[darth los]

I was down in Biloxi, Mississippi for Hurricane Katrina. Despite all the race-card publicity that went to New Orleans....the eye of the hurricane hit southern Mississippi causing hundreds of billions of dollars. I saw armed national guardsmen block off and patrol the main beach road that contained a dozen ruined casinos, and I saw state police from all over the nation on the streets directing traffic. Hell, I even saw military policemen in Walmart at closing time to discourage any trouble. Lots of assistance came down to help, but the scale of damage can not be imagined. I had packs of looters in my parking lot, people pulling guns on each other at the gas stations, and no power for a while. I think crime went up 300% in the months afterward? It can't be understood unless you were there to see it. Although one couldn't do much under these circumstances, my point is that you have to take some responsiblity for yourself. You can't just sit around and bitch about the president failing you because you're this nationality or that religion, you have to get off your ass! There are too many people reliant on the state/federal government today, the American sense of self-reliance is all but extinct. I think if the dead came back to life, the government would be quickly overwhelmed by an uncooperative public who refused to do the necessary dirtywork on their own. We'd be f*cked. Like ben said in NOTLD 90', " it doesn't take the world long to fall apart does it?" Yeah, it was crazy seeing all those people yelling help, hungry, dehydrated babies, and bodies in the street. It gave a glimpse into the darkside of human nature once all our amnenities are taken away. It just confirms what i always say. Humans are basically animal. We think because we have a little technology that we're evolved, we're not. We're basically the same as the humans who came out of the jungle 25,000 years ago only with i-pods.

[acealive1]

now thats somethin to chew on

[MissJacksonCA]

People dont go out to vote because they feel that their vote doesn't matter. And frankly thank god they dont vote because they're morons. But back to the topic... At present with such a strong amount of troops at war in Iraq and with so many here wounded from Iraq it would be hard for the government to mobilize and defend our country from flesh eaters. Its that easy. Next you have the secret service agents that protect various present and past government officials and while they may be willing to give their lives for someone who's to say that they'd be willing to let their families die to save someone? Odds are no. As to the 'underground' stations the government may have my source says and I quote 'it is not unlikely' but what would be unlikely is that they are all connected like you got a glimpse of in Day of the Dead. If you're in Vegas you're in luck because I think it was Sinatra who had some kind of underground palace built with everything from sun lamps to a pool down there but somehow I doubt the government underground facilities are so lush. While i'm sure they will be larely stocked with ammo and food items I doubt there would be enough security officials to use them and serve the government thats left. Lets say the zombies are attacking today and spreading right now and the government is aware of the severity of the situation... we've got few troops to help us and what we have are mostly those in training... depending on their knowledge of the situation would determine whether they help secure our government which would end up gathering their families and ending up in an underground bunker (if we're sticking to your theory)... so because of job posts being abandoned you'd end up with dick cheney, his wife, their gay daughter, her lover, bush, his momma, his pappy, his wife, their two daughters would be eaten by now, you'll have condoleeza rice on her tanker so she'll be gone, aaaaaaaaaand senator and former president clinton, their daughter, and they'll all be living not quite so comfortably ever after. I think if they told any security people about the where abouts of their bunker it would possibly jeopardise their safety becaues who knows? Maybe their security teams would try to bring their families to all live down under there. Again... thats the mentality you have to face zombies with. If you have a safe place you're not the only one who's gonna wanna be there. And if you have supplies you're not the only one who's gonna want to keep 'em. While I see the government possibly going into an undergroud safe haven I only see actual leaders down there and no security personnel which would thus kill the president because really... he only pretends to be a man he doesn't know how to fire a gun remember... he never actually went to war he just plays a cowboy for the tv crews. This does however bring to mind the underground railroads from the past... i'm wondering how functional those would be today but more so i'm wondering if it would be such a grand idea to travel by those methods because it would be easy to get caught down there with some undesireables. Or how well can you travel through the catacombs in France and is that really the place where you want to be? If you took to traveling by the subway rails in NYC and zombies attacked you prolly wouldn't wanna be down there because again... you could end up surrounded with only few ways to make an exit. And we've seen sewer travel in Dawn 04 and know the obvious dangers of traveling by sewer. So underground travel is silly and underground bunkers are reserved but fret not... they wont live long

[jim102016]

People dont go out to vote because they feel that their vote doesn't matter. And frankly thank god they dont vote because they're morons. But back to the topic... At present with such a strong amount of troops at war in Iraq and with so many here wounded from Iraq it would be hard for the government to mobilize and defend our country from flesh eaters. Its that easy. Next you have the secret service agents that protect various present and past government officials and while they may be willing to give their lives for someone who's to say that they'd be willing to let their families die to save someone? Odds are no. As to the 'underground' stations the government may have my source says and I quote 'it is not unlikely' but what would be unlikely is that they are all connected like you got a glimpse of in Day of the Dead. If you're in Vegas you're in luck because I think it was Sinatra who had some kind of underground palace built with everything from sun lamps to a pool down there but somehow I doubt the government underground facilities are so lush. While i'm sure they will be larely stocked with ammo and food items I doubt there would be enough security officials to use them and serve the government thats left. Lets say the zombies are attacking today and spreading right now and the government is aware of the severity of the situation... we've got few troops to help us and what we have are mostly those in training... depending on their knowledge of the situation would determine whether they help secure our government which would end up gathering their families and ending up in an underground bunker (if we're sticking to your theory)... so because of job posts being abandoned you'd end up with dick cheney, his wife, their gay daughter, her lover, bush, his momma, his pappy, his wife, their two daughters would be eaten by now, you'll have condoleeza rice on her tanker so she'll be gone, aaaaaaaaaand senator and former president clinton, their daughter, and they'll all be living not quite so comfortably ever after. I think if they told any security people about the where abouts of their bunker it would possibly jeopardise their safety becaues who knows? Maybe their security teams would try to bring their families to all live down under there. Again... thats the mentality you have to face zombies with. If you have a safe place you're not the only one who's gonna wanna be there. And if you have supplies you're not the only one who's gonna want to keep 'em. While I see the government possibly going into an undergroud safe haven I only see actual leaders down there and no security personnel which would thus kill the president because really... he only pretends to be a man he doesn't know how to fire a gun remember... he never actually went to war he just plays a cowboy for the tv crews. This does however bring to mind the underground railroads from the past... i'm wondering how functional those would be today but more so i'm wondering if it would be such a grand idea to travel by those methods because it would be easy to get caught down there with some undesireables. Or how well can you travel through the catacombs in France and is that really the place where you want to be? If you took to traveling by the subway rails in NYC and zombies attacked you prolly wouldn't wanna be down there because again... you could end up surrounded with only few ways to make an exit. And we've seen sewer travel in Dawn 04 and know the obvious dangers of traveling by sewer. So underground travel is silly and underground bunkers are reserved but fret not... they wont live long Ha, at least he wore a uniform of some sorts. Have you ever been a soldier serving a commander-in-chief who's a draft dodger? Yeah, great feeling to under a certified chicken-****. I saw a show on the history channel I think about Sinatra's facilities! I don't think I'd want to be stuck in there, not with so many former people from Vegas shuffling around outside. You never get away!

[darth los]

Just imagine spending eternity with sigfreid and tom jones.!!! The horror!! I'd take my chances with the ghouls thanks.