Yes, it was Mother Nature’s wrath that Katrina waged war against humanity, especially the poor, mostly black. To make matters worse, the right added a surname — vanden Heuvel, editor of The Nation. It was a cruel manner in which to wake up America from its indifference, rather than pin the blame to nature’s indifference. In the beginning the godly wrath was in Goldwater and those who followed and took off in the Reagan years and orgiastically raped by George W. The prevailing message that less government to least government led to the an even more unspeakable blight of the disadvantaged. In lieu of infrastructure of a massive WPA character for the better: livable homes, levees, railway expansion and sensible evacuee transportation, greenbelts, protected marshlands — ad nauseam — developed were super homes for the rich and even for much of the middle class, casinos, golf courses, SUVs and Hummers, escalating costs for health and home-auto insurance, “star wars,” wars in general, amoral CEO salaries and bonuses for the shortsighted bottom line without regard to corporate integrity, seizure of good old American jobs for the benefit of multinational expansion, all of which contributed to the plight of the disadvantaged and festered avenging gods. Yet why take it out on the poor with such brutalization? Simply that it is the least path of resistance; affluence has resources and subterfuges to fortify itself.
The fault does not lie with the Republicans alone; for the control of Louisiana, particularly New Orleans, is in the hands of “Democrats” — need I say, however, there are Democrats and there are real Republicans and Democrats? — surely the mayor and governor are no Giuliani or Hillary. Before the Democrats get on their high horse, they should first seek absolution for their cowardice and milquetoast behavior since the second term of Johnson when they callously let the war on poverty slip away because of a war stripping the budget. How ironic in light of George W’s not blinking an eye over Iraq’s costs. Democrats should never relinquish the hammer for enlightened government that seeks to attain rational justice and an egalitarian spirit toward those so severely disadvantaged who do indeed require affirmative action to help them attain the heretofore unattainable through sensible legislation that strips the motive of political correctness that has become a password for do nothing.
Copyright © 2005 Richard R. Kennedy All rights reserved. Revised: September 17, 2005.
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