The blame game

[mdlbear]

There's plenty to go around. I hear on the news that the Feds are trying to shift most of the blame onto the states -- keeping their people safe is their responsibility, and if they didn't call for help from the Federal government soon enough, it's their fault. Maybe -- at this point 52% of the people don't blame Bush personally...

Here is what interdictor has to say about it: (full text behind cuts, or just RTFA)

Let me address the political situation for a moment. I noticed that the responses I've been getting on the blog and the stuff I've been reading in the mainstream media has become very politicized. I'm not going to get into politics here -- I'm just going to do my work and then report what I see and hear throughout the day. If you guys want to play Democrat vs Republican vs Independent, go right ahead, but I'm really weary of the permanent election season this country's turned into. Honestly, these are politicians you guys are getting so excited about. Politicians. As far as I'm concerned, I don't trust people who want to tell other people how to spend their money and what they can read or see on television and what they can do in the privacy of their own homes. There's no way I'm going to feel comfortable supporting someone who thinks he knows what's best for the rest of "society" and is willing to use force and the threat of force to make others fall into line.

So yeah, I'm not going to support or condemn anyone specific for what's going on here.

And another thing to think about when we start pointing fingers is this. The government is never equipped to handle a crisis like this. There's too much bureaucracy -- initiative-stifling bureaucracy which prevents swift, effective action. I would like to hear from government employees on this. The nature of that bureaucracy is such that you have very specific guidelines to follow for even the most minute tasks. You need approval for just about everything, and the person you need approval from usually needs approval to give you the approval.

It's not as easy as say rounding up 4 of your co-workers and saying, "We've got someone at such and such an address, let's go grab her and get her out of there." Now add a destroyed or disabled command and control center to that bureaucracy and you've got a total and complete mess.

You (as a civilian) don't need "Approved" stamped on 3 different forms before you can run into your neighbor's house and pull them out. I hope this makes sense.

Anyway, I'm sure there's been human error in this catastrophe. How could there not be? But what I'm saying is that I've come to expect poor decision making and a total lack of initiative from government. They can't even balance a budget, at the federal, state, or local levels. I could balance my checkbook and spend within my means when I was a teenager. But I'm not gonna point fingers and get into the blame game. If you want me to blame something besides the storm herself, I blame the nature of government in the first place. It's too big, it's too slow, it's too inefficient, it's too bloated, and it's too intiative-stifling to be effective in normal circumstances, much less in a disaster. It's a systemic issue, more than an issue of individual people in government.

Comments

[roaringmouse.livejournal.com]

I disagree. The problem was the Federal government has been putting all its "marbles" into Iraq. Local government like the Mayor of New Orleans was correct in saying local federal dollars were going to the DHS and troops. This also happened during the Vietnam War; however, the US was lucky those years, nothing as drastic as Katrina was felt here in the US. However, there was the Biafra conflict and the flooding of the newly formed Bangladesh. The country was critized because the feds didn't provide more relief. It was the European countries and private non-profit organization that supplied most of the relief monies.

In addition, the local mayor when issuing a mandatory evacution did not realize that a lot of his population were under the poverty line and didn't have transportation. One, this mayor had never heard of a century storm which this was and two, his advisors were also taken unaware.

But the President would the one to start the ball rolling with the Feds. Without his say so, nothing will really happen. The Pres was taking a nap down in Crawford...

[mdlbear]

As I said, there's plenty to go around. The authorities in NO have been calling for more federal money for levees for years. On the other hand, they've known about this problem for years, and appear to have been just starting to work out a disaster plan. And I don't think much of a mayor who "didn't realize" that much of his population couldn't afford cars -- isn't it part of his job to know things like that?

[roaringmouse.livejournal.com]

You would think; but it has to be one explanation. Maybe the "cry wolf" syndrome is another. Too many hurricane warnings no actual hurricane.