The fallout from Hurricane Katrina is revealing that Americans are nowhere near as strong, courageous, and resilient as we’d like to believe. Exhibit number one is the massive looting going on in New Orleans, including people “shopping” for “good bargains” in the local Wal-Marts.

One man, who had about 10 pairs of jeans draped over his left arm, was asked if he was salvaging things from his store.

“No,” the man shouted, “that’s EVERYBODY’S store.”

Looters filled industrial-sized garbage cans with clothing and jewelry and floated them down the street on bits of plywood and insulation as National Guard lumbered by.

Mike Franklin stood on the trolley tracks and watched the spectacle unfold.

“To be honest with you, people who are oppressed all their lives, man, it’s an opportunity to get back at society,” he said.

Exhibit number 2 is the phenomenon of “gas rage” springing up around the nation.

As gas prices soar to a record high of more than $3.00 per gallon, so too do incidents of violence and theft at the pumps.

In the most extreme and tragic example so far, Husain “Tony” Caddi, 54, the owner of a gas station in Alabama, was run down and killed Aug. 23 by a driver who had just helped himself to $52 worth of gas. The driver has since surrendered to police.

And “it may get worse before it gets better, especially if we have periods of acute shortages, price hikes, or both where we will see more rageful incidents, anger, and irritability at the pumps,” says Jerry Deffenbacher, PhD, professor in the department of psychology at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colo. Such acute circumstances “can escalate an already simmering situation.”

Gas rage? I think we should call it what it is: grown adults throwing temper tantrums because life doesn’t play out the way they think it should. That’s a disgraceful response to normal economic events. Gas prices rise and fall based on the supply of gasoline on any given day. Attacking the gas station owner or fellow motorists because someone is disappointed by the price is a triumph of emotion over all self-control. Let the punishment fit the crime: such individuals should be publicly mocked and completely shunned. If they are unable to operate in adult society, let them be excluded from it.

I’m going to stand against my fellow libertarians and say that looting is never justified, no matter how severe the situation. Stealing is always wrong; a hurricane and a devastated city don’t magically convert stealing into a virtue. However, I do believe that people should be able to get the supplies that they need to survive. What should be done? Simple: everyone that “loots” a store should either leave behind cash payment or an IOU — complete with address and contact information. Anyone breaking a window to enter a store should leave behind an IOU for that as well. It’s part of being a responsible adult: take responsibility for your actions. By all means, individuals should take what they need to survive. But they should remember that the store owner needs to survive as well. Unfortunately, it looks like America has precious few adults this morning.