To careful observers, everything has always been political. But the ramping up of the right wing noise machine over the past 20 or so years has made it a lot more obvious. EVERYTHING is political. Even hurricanes.
These days, we have competing moral, economic, sociological (all subsumed under "political") narratives for events like Katrina. Our side points to poor governance and spending priorites that may have led to levee breaks, the possibility that global warming has intensified hurricane strength and frequency. Their side thinks God is punishing us for abortion and homosexuality.
Their side has also fixated on looting as a big subset of the story. Go over to any of the winger sites and see the fulmination over the looting. It's a PEREFECT discussion point for them: it lets them be racist without being explicit, it exploits innate human fears of disaster and chaos, it displaces these fears and puts them right on poor (often black) people.
Here's the problem. It works. It works perfectly. The power of televised images is inescapable. It also has a pre-fabricated, pseudo debate wrapped in it: "looters are evil." "Wait, they're just trying to survive." "They're just criminals. Stop being PC." And so on. Simple, fake arguments.
The REAL Looters
Meanwhile, America has been looted for HUNDREDS of BILLIONS of dollars the past 5 years (just as it was looted during the Reagan administration). One could plausibly claim TRILLIONS having been looted. Stolen from OUR treasury, monies thrown off by the US economic infrastructure we've all - over the generations - helped to build.
These looters haven't stolen a few stereos. They've taken food from children's mouths, medical care from the elderly, funds from school budgets. They've (fucking bastards) taken us to war and killed Americans and people from other lands to loot even more. They've looted our future, and left us in dire fiscal straights.
Only, their looting largely goes unnoticed. The figures are too large to be grasped. Their looting is less television-friendly. Their looting is too abstract for most to discuss.
I don't necessarily have an answer. But I do know that this entire dynamic is endlessly repeated in American political life. The pseudo controversies. The fake arguments. The blaming and demonization of nearly powerless individuals. The endless escape routes for the elites.
It's an ancient American story, and not a pleasant one to contemplate.