Should the Feds Subsidize Living on the Beach?

I try to spend at least part of every year on the beach. Now that I live in the southwest, my go-to beach vacation spot tends to be in southern California. But while I was living in Florida in the 1980s, Key West was one of my favorites.

One night, when I was sitting in Sloppy Joe’s bar (a favorite watering hole of Hemingway when he lived in Key West), I met “Melanie,” a local resident. At the time, she was about 60 years old.

Melanie told me about a nearly-forgotten hurricane that overwhelme...