Staying the Course in New Orleans
Shortly after Katrina hit, President Bush made a hasty bid for higher approval ratings by announcing he (we) would spend whatever it takes to rebuild New Orleans. Most Americans not enamoured with poverty, corruption, and sleaze considered this to be a bad move. As I asked then, why can’t we quit while we’re ahead?
Rebuilding seemed like a poor investment, and now we have reason to believe that it is a futile effort. Mike Tidwell offers an op-ed describing how the Bush Administration recently refused to fund a project to restore barrier islands and coastal wetlands, which would buffer the city from further meteorological abuses. I haven’t seen the proposal for myself, but the theory is plausible. If properly implemented, ecological restoration could save the city should another hurricane strike — and likely better than any amount of infrastructure the Army Corps of Engineers could construct.
The winning quote comes from Mark Davis, executive director of the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, “Either they don’t get it or they just don’t care.” Is there a better way to describe government planning in general?
3 Responses to “Staying the Course in New Orleans”
Don’t you just love how the complete ineptitude of a Republican, “Small-government” administration is used as an argument for why government planning is ineffective?
Clearly any principled conservative can support spending some federal funds on restoring the wetlands, since in the long run would probably save taxpayer dollars in the event of future disasters.
On your note, Balta, I should run for congress on a small-government-except-when-it-comes-to-bringing-back-pork-for-my-constituents-and-financial-rewards-for-my-campaign-backers-and-overweeining-social/cultural-legislation platform. Apparently it works, given the state of Congress, and the country in general.
Balta,
I think “Small Government” got left behind awhile ago. I haven’t heard Bush stump about that in years.
I guess it is inevitable that government will bloat until it becomes clearly untenable.