"Of the People, By the People, For the People"

Last night, I came as close as I ever have to an argument with one of my oldest friends about politics, specifically about what the government does and doesn't owe its citizens in a natural disaster. Fiercely independent and generous, she maintains it is up to neighbors to help each other, and up to individuals to help themselves. Under normal circumstances, I'd agree with her, but Hurricane Katrina's aftermath is not normal circumstances. In this case, especially in New Orleans, the weakest, poorest and most vulnerable citizens have been left behind to suffer. What you see in the news clips are the underclass of the country, trapped by lack of money, lack of transportation, lack of resources in general, poor health and small children. It's all very well to say neighbors should help each other, but when all of your neighbors lack the same resources you do, what then?

This is really what I pay taxes for. It's why I don't complain that I pay such exorbitant city taxes. My money goes to subsidize cops (whose attitude and methods may piss me off but who should still be applauded for doing a dangerous job), firefighters, paramedics, free clinics, garbage collectors, public utilities, safety inspectors, public transportation, and safety nets for the poor and the vulnerable. During and after 9/11, it was mostly the city's agencies that picked us up, dusted us off, and put us back together again. The cost was enormous, as was the effort; it crippled our economy for years. And we were lucky that the damage was confined to a relatively small area—unlike New Orleans.

The damage in New Orleans and along the Gulf Coast is so enormous and pervasive that it's almost impossible to grasp. When have we ever had to completely evacuate an entire city, abandoning it to the forces of nature? Neither the Chicago fire nor the San Francisco earthquake required measures that drastic. And yet, this was not a surprise. Hurricane Katrina was closely tracked as it roared across Florida, into the Gulf, and picked up enough steam to become a devastating category 5 storm, with New Orleans in its gunsights. Mandatory evacuation orders did go out, but there were no mechanisms in place for evacuating—guess who?—the poor, the elderly, the sick. The people who most need help, most of whom happened to be black.

I firmly believe that the test of a good government is how it treats its weakest citizens, and the people whose votes it can't count on. Government's job is to step in and do what good neighbors can't. It's beyond the power of any small group to evacuate a neighborhood. But local agencies like school boards can provide buses to help people get out of town to refugee centers that are also beyond the capability of individuals to organize and set up. This is the purpose of first responders.

It's easy to say that neighbors should help each other, and I couldn't agree more, especially on a day to day basis. But, for instance, if I had to evacuate from where I live right now, I'm not sure how I'd do it. I don't own a car, and getting out of town on public transportation would be a huge chore with everyone else in my neighborhood who doesn't own a car trying to do the same thing. And if I had to evacuate the Northeast corridor, say, from Boston to Washington DC (roughly the same size swath that was devastated by Katrina), where would I go? Sure, I could walk out of the Bronx with a map. But to where? Now, compound this by having small children, or elderly or infirm parents with me.

And if my neighborhood, or worse, my city were flattened and nobody had any food or water or shelter, what then? Whose responsibility is it to help out then? How far does the designation "neighbor" extend in such cases? Sure, I'd share whatever I had, and no doubt many other people would too. But when what you have runs out, when you've exhausted all your own personal resources, what then? Ideally, this is where government steps it. Even according to conservatives, the government has an obligation to perform the functions that individuals or small government entities like cities or states cannot: national security, law enforcement, etc. In the wake of large-scale disasters, cities and states may not have the resources to cope. Even private relief agencies like the Red Cross and the Salvation Army often don't have immediate funds available for large scale disasters like this one. That's where the federal government kicks in.

And in a case like Katrina, an ounce of prevention would have been worth a pound of medicine.

Instead, the government cut funds for Army Corps of Engineers projects like re-engineering and repairing New Orleans' levees (it's too late to say it was stupid to build below sea-level, though it is; the city's location is already a fact) to—dare I say it?—fight an unnecessary war in Iraq. If, as President Lincoln maintained in the Gettysburg address, government is "of the people, by the people, and for the people," it certainly has an obligation to help those people, especially those in dire need, rather than letting them slip through the cracks as was done in neglecting to help the poorest and neediest and weakest evacuate the New Orleans area. This is especially true of a government that led by a man who claims to be not just Christian, but chosen by God to lead the country. Remember "You must love your neighbor as yourself" and "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you"?

If this is compassionate conservatism, I'd hate to see the cold-hearted kind.

Comments

[Red for A Day]

Sarcastic. Possibly.

I rarely get as nausated by the news as I am now; but when white television announcers make the statement that certain political leaders in Louisiana are beginning to use the "R" word, I can hardly stand it.

It appears that only black people are capable of looting and uncivilized behaviour. Won't they be surprised!

[Lee Kottner]

Well, when you leave people in desperate straits, without food or water or shelter or a means to escape, desperate acts are sure to follow. Granted, a good bit of the looting was just opportunistic, but I suspect a good part of it was scavenging for necessities too. And who were the people who got left behind? Poor black people, for the most part. And if anybody thinks the poor white people left behind didn't do any looting, they're laughably naive. Anybody read "Lord of the Flies" lately?

[Rob Kellerman]

Re: This post --

Amen. Amen again. Yea verily. Absolutely. You go, girl.

You've expressed exactly what I wish I'd said, and more eloquently than I would've as well. To all readers of Spawn of Bloghorrea, step up to the plate. Open the pocketbook, write the check, do your part. And do it generously. Rob

[Your last friend in Canada]

As Celine Dion put it on Larry King the other night, "He (Bush) can send thousands of troops to another country to kill thousands of people but he can't rescue people in his own country".