It is good to know that an editorial writer recognizes that the political culture of the gimme state of Louisiana had the most to do with the flooding and its aftermath.Nature is mightier than any human being, and no politician can prevent damage from a disaster on the scale of Hurricane Katrina or the record rainfall that wreaked havoc last week.But the political culture does have much to do with how well prepared a state is to meet a disaster and mitigate the damage. If a state is steeped in corruption and if its voters permit their politicians to spend tax dollars in ways other than serving the public interest, nature can inflict extraordinary damage indeed.Hurricane Katrina was worse than it had to be for Louisiana, for example, because the state’s (including New Orleans’s) political leaders were too incompetent to prepare adequately for the storm. And, after the storm, its shakedown culture thwarted taxpayer-funded aid from getting to the people. Within two years, the special Hurricane Katrina Fraud Task Force of the U.S. Department of Justice had charged 188 people in Louisiana with fraud.“Half of Louisiana is under water and the other half is under indictment,” a longtime congressman, Billy Tauzin, famously quipped of his state.As Rhode Island dries out and confronts the damage, we may learn in coming weeks whether our culture also made things worse.
Read it all.
No comments:
Post a Comment