Cynical Nation

There are those who will never forgive me for not being willing to begin handing out pink slips even while the levees around New Orleans were still flooding the city with billions of gallons of water. This alone, however, is enough to convince me that Michael Brown has more than outlived his usefulness at FEMA -- assuming he ever had any. (But please, Andrew, don't bother linking to me.) To tell the truth, I had my doubts about the Department of Homeland Security at its inception, and I have even graver doubts about it now.

Nevertheless, I do think some perspective might be in order. FEMA's response time, while clearly inadequate in this instance, was pretty much par for the course. As someone who lived through Hurricane Hugo in 1989, I think the federal response to Katrina was, if anything, snappy by comparison. And that's in spite of the vastly more complicated logistics surrounding the Katrina response. That doesn't make it acceptable, of course, but perhaps the way FEMA is set up was never acceptable. It's a pity it took a tragedy of this magnitude to prompt a re-examination.

One more thing that's been bugging me is the complete lack of understanding regarding how our federalist system of government is set up. It's a bit more understandable for members of the foreign press, but it's downright inexcusable here at home. I'm talking about those demanding to know why Bush didn't order a mandatory evacuation immediately, and why Bush didn't federalize the National Guard and have them march into Louisiana to restore order immediately, and so forth. Ironically, much of these grievances emanate from the same quarters that habitually complain that the executive has amassed too much power under Bush, and is becoming almost dictatorial.

Pace Paul Krugman, Americans have not grown hostile to the idea of government service. Indeed, we have become conditioned to think of Washington as the default go-to guy -- our first, last, and only stop for meeting all our needs and redressing all our grievances, no matter how large or small.

Ah well. To be honest, I'm getting a bit burned out on the whole debate. At this point I can do nothing better than point you to two excellent posts by John Cole and Jeff Goldstein. They touch on some of these points and many others, and address them far more effectively than I can. Read them both. It's well worth your time.