"GOP presidential hopeful Rep. Tom Tancredo (Colo.) said Friday it is
“time the taxpayer gravy train left the New Orleans station” and urged an end to
the federal aid to the region that was devastated by Hurricane Katrina two years
ago. “The amount of money that has been wasted on these so-called ‘recovery’
efforts has been mind-boggling,” said Tancredo, who is running a long-shot
presidential campaign. “Enough is enough.” Citing administration figures, the
lawmaker said that $114 billion has been spent on the effort to rebuild a large
stretch of the Gulf Coast after the storm hit New Orleans in August 2005 and
claimed more than 1,600 lives. “At some point, state and local officials and
individuals have got to step up to the plate and take some initiative,” said
Tancredo. “The mentality that people can wait around indefinitely for the
federal taxpayer to solve all their worldly problems has got to come to an end.”
The lawmaker criticized in particular the amount that has been wasted through
fraud and abuse, estimated at $1 billion. "
A number of factors are always involved in any disaster. The disaster in New Orleans raises a number of questions though about the role of government in my mind. More specific the role of Federal Government. Granted it was a disaster that ranks at a level that it is impossible to find a comparable example to discuss, but I am going to try. When there was the 1989 earthquake in San Francisco, there was a great deal of damage done to the city and its infrastructure. It was able to put some strength and will into coming back, and it has. A better example might even be the city of Santa Cruz, which lost its entire downtown area. The people of the city came together, cleaned up the city, they were cut off from the outside, they didn't wait for help. The city struggled for well over ten years coming back from the loss, but it did come back.
In both of these example the federal government played a minor role in bringing the cities back. Most of the money and the effort to rebuild came from the local and state governments, as it should. The second thing is that even San Francisco did not come back over night, it was a hard road.
What do people expect, that New Orleans is going to be completely rebuilt by federal money. I don't think that the federal government owes any city that nature of salvation. It shouldn't be in the business of rebuilding, it should assist state and local bodies as they work to rebuild. The question that hangs out there in the air, is why it seems like there is so much crying and waiting in New Orleans for someone else to save them. The storm itself is an example, we blame the state and the federal government for not removing people, but what about the blame that they hold for not taking the responsibility to remove themselves. There are some who have reasons that they could not leave on their own, but that number statistically speaking is much lower than the number who stayed and waited.
If a man swims out into the ocean till he gets tired, and calls for help, should someone else swim out there and help him? If people don't leave a city that is about to be hit by a disaster because they are too lazy to do so, or just don't take the danger seriously, who is responsible for their being in danger? Should the long slow pace of rebuilding be accepted as the natural process, or should resources by put to use by government agencies to expedite the process? The questions are all related, and the way you answer one effects the way you look at the others.
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