There're really not that many, and they all dovetail to a basic core philosophy:
"The liberal media exaggerated all/some aspects to find cause to criticize the president." Valid criticism is calling out emergency management officials who don't know the basic facts concerning the state of an emergency. This is a very surface-y argument that avoids the issues.
"State and local officials are equally culpable for the affects of the failed response." From most reports I've read, the federal government has the responsibility to take over when, and this is a primary rationale, states' resources are strained. Local officials screwed up, but to what degree? Those school buses would have saved many had they been deployed, but those same officials who screwed up also declared an emergency and requested help before the storm hit. Does that absolve the federal government of its responsibility? Or of their lack of follow-up? FEMA had ample time and an understanding of the destructive power of the storm and should have responded.
"Federal support in general and FEMA specifically is an extravagant entitlement. States are better able to respond on their own." This gets closer to the heart of the issue. Ignoring the expansion of government that we've seen with Bush, this administration represents itself as a proponent of small government. Any facet of non-military government spending will be looked upon with suspicion. And yet no state is an island: what effects one greatly will quickly cascade to others. It is in the best interest of the country as a whole to aid those states that are in trouble. Isn't it?
"This is what happens to poor people. Accept it." This sentiment goes hand-in-hand with the previous one but takes it to its moral conclusion. This is the "shit happens" approach and presumes that throwing government money to mitigate the problem would be to join in an endless cycle of waste. "There will alway be the poor and crippled who are unable to flee from harms way." When I hear some from the Christian right so brazenly defy Christian teaching in this manner, it makes me proud to be an atheist.
There seems to be no common ground. Either you believe that people are best suited to self-organize in a form distinct from the federal government in order to assist the needy, or you believe that the federal government already is that self-organization.
I think it is completely ridiculous and immature how may arguments over this hurricane there have been. It is disgusting to see people spending so much time and energy trying to point fingers and put the blame on others. The hurricane hadn’t passed NO when I saw a thread on here blaming Bush for the disaster. Get real people. Instead of complaining and pointing fingers, get off your chairs and go help. Volunteer your time, or donate some money. This isn’t the time to be pointing fingers and blaming others. People are human, and we can’t predict the future. No one could have seen a disaster like this coming and turning out the way it did. There is just no winning with some people, they will always point fingers and play “Monday Morning Quarterback”. So my suggestion to everyone is to stop pointing fingers and put your energy into something positive.
Honestly if we spent the time looking at it, there are a million things that could happen. Planning for all of them is a waste of time and money. We need to live our lives, and try to set our priorities in order. I think the same thing is true for 9/11. Yes, things could have been done to prevent it, but then again something else could have gone wrong and people would have said that should have been taken care of instead. Yes learn from your mistakes, but don’t spend so much time putting blame on others.
"It is disgusting to see people spending so much time and energy trying to point fingers and put the blame on others."
Who else is expected to question the actions of our elected representatives? If someone causes me harm, should I just say "what's done is done" and move on? What if their blunders kill those I love? How easy, or logical, would that be to do?
"Instead of complaining and pointing fingers, get off your chairs and go help."
I did help. Does that then give me permission to search for a cause for the scale of this disaster? That's a silly requirement to allow criticism. If I see a murder occur, can I not be a witness to the prosecution because I didn't assist the grieving family of the victim?
"No one could have seen a disaster like this coming..."
I'll assume you're kidding on this one. It was widely reported (and is widely documented) that we've known that there was a high likelihood that this would happen.
"...there are a million things that could happen. Planning for all of them is a waste of time and money."
Right. So we should be planning for the events that have a higher probability (like this). It was ignored in favor of Iraq, so we basically traded death for more death.
"Yes learn from your mistakes, but don't spend so much time putting blame on others."
How much time am I allowed to spend in trying to determine if someone's at fault? Is no one ever to blame in your world? How do you know if you never investigate? People don't always do the best that they could have, some have personal agendas that willfully ignore the plight of others. This carelessness can many more in harm's way than would be otherwise "probable." I don't think it's a waste of time to determine if that's occurred.
I sincerely hope that you have a reply.
Posted by: sstrader at May 17, 2006 9:39 PM