Blame LA

Today Michael Brown, the former head of FEMA, laid down blame on the State of Louisiana and the City of New Orleans for the problems that plagued the evacuation from the city before Hurricane Katrina arrived. As I've thought from the get-go, the true problems were most likely at the local level. As Brown points out, Mississippi and Alabama did not have problems with evacuating, especially since they chose to do so much earlier than the New Orleans area (where it was only made a mandatory order hours before Katrina made landfall). Mayor Nagin of New Orleans dragged his feet for days not knowing what to do. City buses sat empty, instead of ferrying the poor people out of the city. The Superdome, described as a "refuge of last resort" seemed to be the first place they wanted people to go. Responding to critics that say Brown should have done more to get people out of New Orleans, he said,

"I guess you want me to be the superhero that is going to step in there and suddenly take everybody out of New Orleans."

The Governor of Louisiana, Kathleen Blanco, took quite a long time to request federal assistance and also did not declare a state of emergency until it was too late to get the National Guard in before the hurricane struck. It was a coordinated failure by the people who should be in charge during this situation, state and local government. The federal government does not and should not have the power to micro-manage every disaster before or after it happens.

As I've made abundantly clear, if Americans want a federal government who will take care of them from birth until death, micro-managing everything down to the appropriate desk to put in your home office, move to a socialist country. In America, we live in a Federal Republic, meaning that States exist and have a degree of independence. If you would prefer a stronger federal government, move to France.