As someone who already had PTSD when 9/11 happened, I’ve been very attuned to the fear-mongering that’s been going on in his country for the past four years. I’ve been aware of it because it works on me – works in that I start to fear getting on a subway or a plane. And let me say, there’s been a lot of it, all of it focused on what the terrorists might do. There’s been so much that I understand why Americans are fearful, and even why they voted for Bush: they wanted to be safe. So do we all.
But it strikes me that on this Sunday morning, what we have all feared terrorists doing has now happened, and it wasn’t terrorists who did it. We have lost a great American city to a combination of natural disaster and incompetence. We gave up our civil liberties, we gave the President new, sweeping powers, we funded the Department of Homeland Security. And for what? Because we thought, we hoped, that doing so would keep us safe; that a small sacrifice, like letting the government in on what I’ve been reading, would give the government enough power to handle something disastrous quickly and well.
They didn’t. There’s a lot of blame-laying going around: ironically, Republicans (who are usually for giving more power to state and local governments) are blaming the state and local governments for not being prepared, and Democrats (who tend to like big, nation-wide planning) are blaming the Feds. The irony that the current Republican Party says it’s for smaller government when it has increased the powers of said government is not lost on me.
Gov. Blanco (D-LA) called a state of emergency on August 26th. She asked the President to do the same on August 27th, which he did.
So what happened? FEMA has said that all the emphasis has been placed on terrorism, not natural disasters, which is why this went as wrong as it did. But surely the response to a natural disaster or a terrorist attack requires the same mobilization, supplies, and swiftness, yes? Why, if on August 27th, FEMA were alerted that they might have to help Louisiana with the aftermath of Katrina, are people’s moms still dying as of Friday night? I’m sure there isn’t a simple answer, although it’s pretty clear to me that the White House – along with Chertoff, Brown of FEMA, and the President himself – have shown themselves to be incompetent, or, as a recent editorial by Greg Mitchell pointed out, they are guilty of dereliction of duty. One that’s proved fatal, not just to thousands of American citizens, but to a great American city.
My question, then, is when do we get our civil liberties back? If we traded them in for safety and security as promised by the Bush Administration, and we are not getting those things, shouldn’t we get them back now, due to breach of contract? Because if a hurricane – which is one of the most predictable types of natural disasters – caught these guys unprepared, then how on earth can anyone still believe that they will be prepared for a terrorist attack, which is not predictable at all?
(Much thanks to the blogosphere for doing the legwork: Josh Marshall, Atrios, Kos, and Kevin Drum.)