Yes, lay the blame at the doorstep of the criminally incompetent Mr Bush. He deserves responsiblity for all the devastation and death (I'm tempted to call it the 'slaughter of innocents', a nice Biblical reference to the sort of dying the nation has witnessed this last week). He's earned it.
But there's another aspect of this catastrophe to which we need to give some attention and thought.. How can one man & his staff cripple the resources and initiative of an entire first world country?
Let's face it: we aren't "one nation under God;" we're one nation under the thumb of the White House.
We are harvesting the consequences of the loss of all our constitutional checks and balances. Congress? It's become muscle and camouflage for the agenda of the Man In The White House. The Supreme Court? About to be brought to heel (almost typed 'to hell'-- damn those Freudian slips) by the same forces that seek to dominate our national life completely-- political social cultural economic & religious dominance.
Face it, every single agency is in the hands of people like Michael FEMA Brown. A pal & a bozo presiding over a swarm of worker bees who are diligently dismantling not only the ability of government to help citizens but, just as importantly, the ability of agencies and committees and civil servants of every stripe and rank to think for themselves, and fulfill their responsibilities.
It's been a long time coming-- this dismantling of constitutional protections in the guise of literalism & fidelity to the very thing being destroyed-- this consolidation of power in the hands of a very few people.
The mayhem and slaughter in NOLA is the result. We've all witnessed the display of George Bush's limitations as leader, as thinker, as human being in these last days. While we're at it, let's take the time to notice that ONE MAN's failure has been enough to cripple a continent.
It's not just not a particular philosophy that must be repudiated, if we're going to avert more NOLA's, natural and contrived. It's the consolidation of power in the hands of one office, one man and his chosen few.
The imperial presidency-- that is what must be undone-- if our national life is to be reclaimed and restored. Call them what you want-- neocons, theocrats, oligarchs, corporatists. The name doesn't matter. They're a tide, a deep undercurrent that must be reversed.
/labor day rant.
Now comes the big question. How can it be done?
Tell you the truth, all I can think of, right now, is to notice it-- and shine some light on it.
What do you think?