More examples of the root cause of the Katrinia / Rita disasters. We live in a harsh world, one in which disasters will come our way. The magnitude of suffering depends on our preparedness.
Some conservatives claim that our sufferings are due to sins against family values. Some liberals claim that they are due to sins against environmental values and racism.
Niether claim is true. Our sufferings are due to sins of omission – failure to prepare for a widely anticipated direct hit on New Orleans by a category five hurricane. The reason for these omissions is simple: our political culture is addicted to federal pork.
Here is an example of pork, misspent federal funds from Townhall columnist Mark Alexander
The funding New Orleans did receive was often diverted by the city's Levee Board to other projects. For example, the Board spent $2.4 million of levee funding on a Mardi Gras fountain near Lake Pontchartrain, and $15 million more on overpasses to riverboat casinos. All the while, a big storm was on the horizon.
Alexander goes on to quote former Levee board chair Bill Nungesser
"Every time I turned over a rock, there was something rotten. I used to tell people, 'If your children ever die in a hurricane, come shoot us, because we're responsible.' We throw away all sorts of money."
What we have here is one more example of Tip O’Neil’s famous saying that “All politics is local.” We have an interlocking local-state-federal system dedicated to earmarking federal funds on projects that make local politicians feel good. Federal politicians get their reward: they are reelected.
It is all very addictive. Cutting pork leads to withdrawal symptoms. “Operation Offset” an attempt to reduce federal spending in order to pay for recovery has already drawn this skeptical comment from Washington Post writer E.J. Dionne: True, a group of very conservative Republicans issued a list of program cuts on Wednesday under the imposing name "Operation Offset." The cuts that the Republican Study Committee proposed have won their sponsors praise for making "tough choices." Of course the sponsors won't actually have to live with these cuts, because Republican leaders dismissed most of the reductions, especially in congressional pet projects and the Medicare prescription drug benefit.
In addition to the difficulty of withdrawal, the political system has developed another symptom of addiction: lying about our dependence.
Consider, for example, this rant from Outside the Beltway columnist Leopold Stotch Republicans Are Liars. Stoch tells how he went to a local cocktail parity and was moved to write about the decline of ethos in the Republican Party:
I write this post in anger after having gone to a party at my neighbor’s house; he’s the chief of staff for a very prominent US Senator from a very red state. After a few drinks, he goaded me into telling stories about the silly liberalism of some of my students (a favorite topic of conversation among conservatives, as if there aren’t ignorant conservative students with misguided ideas). Anyway, one of those listening was a Republican lobbyist, who thought my stories were funny but who made it a point to proclaim that while he himself was very conservative -- he’d worked on the Goldwater campaign in 1960 -- he was also very proud that as a lobbyist he’s “crossed the isle” (a lame DC cliche) and has worked with and is friends with some good Democrats.
“Like who,” I asked.
“Well,” he said, “during the Clinton years we did some land deals with Bruce Babbitt, who’s a good guy and a friend.”
Read Mark Alexander and Leopold Stotch. Most of us can do very little to break the national dependence on pork – but we don’t have to support it with our votes.
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