Saturday, September 10, 2005

Governmental ineffectiveness

I hate to sound like paranoid Democrat, but I'm truly getting sick of this government. I realize the importance of trying to stave off mass panic during a crisis situation, but I can't respect a government who is either so misinformed that it tells untruths, or deliberately lies to its people. I'm not sure which I dislike more.

During the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, various members of the U.S. government were out toting the "party line" about how everything was under control when it was not.

On Thursday, President Bush said, "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees" when computer models have been forecasting that exact occurrence for decades.

The Moderate Voice says:
the New Orleans Times Picayune published a five-part series on "The Big One," examining what might happen if they did.

It predicted that 200,000 people or more would be unwilling or unable to heed evacuation orders and thousands would die, that people would be housed in the Superdome, that aid workers would find it difficult to gain access to the city as roads became impassable, as well as many other of the consequences that actually unfolded after Katrina hit this week.


In spite of that, former FEMA head Mike Brown said that he was not informed that there were people in the Superdome until Thursday.

Why is it seemingly inherent in government that people not be able to think for themselves? Why must we wait for official word to get help out to people who need it? Why is covering our own hindquarters more important than doing our job?

And, given this inherent lack of effectiveness, who in the world will be worthy to vote for in the next election?!

2 comments:

Staying in Balance said...

Well, that's certainly true. It is beyond my comprehension how people could shoot, and otherwise abuse, the rescuers.

I just think a little less red tape and a little more communication and actually carrying out of any pre-planning that was done, would have helped the rescue efforts.

Staying in Balance said...

Exactly. I think the government is absorbed in CYA to the point where they don't see reality.

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"Slavery ended in medieval Europe only because the church extended its sacraments to all slaves and then managed to impose a ban on the enslavement of Christians (and of Jews). Within the context of medieval Europe, that prohibition was effectively a rule of universal abolition. "— Rodney Stark

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