A huge issue that has been exposed by the New Orleans disaster is
public policy regarding the poor. While most people who aren't actually poor themselves basically want political leaders to help them ignore poor people--this is a large part of what welfare is actually about, I think--their mortality in the flood shows that continuing to ignore them would be, to use Pres. Bush's word,
unacceptable.
There are many things the politicos will be doing in the flood's aftermath, but perhaps the most important one is to reconsider the question of basic rights.
Basic rights are rights that people have no matter how poor they are, no matter what they've done or not done, no matter their civil status. There is a huge ideological split in our country regarding basic rights. If any one thing separates the classic Democrat from the Republican (and Libertarian), it is this issue.
I believe that it is fundamental to the Democratic agenda that all people have the right to adequate food, water, and housing; to a decent education; to reasonable medical care; and to emergency relief. This cornerstone has been crumbling. Republicans reframe it as charity rather than as a right; this position must be rejected by Democrats. It is a basic right that is essential for our nation. Only once we have assured it should we get on with our "pursuit of happiness".
I believe that the apparent reluctance of the Republican-led federal government to commit themselves to disaster relief in New Orleans in a timely fashion stems directly from their denial that we all have a basic right to emergency relief, and therefore, that our government has a basic obligation to supply it. As a basic obligation, it comes before bureaucratic requirements, funding requirements, and all such secondary matters.
So, if nothing else comes out of this debacle, two groups of people absolutely must understand how seriously our basic rights have already been eroded by the Republicans and their fellow travelers, and how dangerous this state of affairs is at an individual level: The poor must realize it, and never again give up their right to vote in the mistaken belief that their votes don't count. The only mechanism available in our country, short of violent revolution (which did work once, but has failed every time since the 18th century) is the vote. The poor's best chance to protect their basic rights, including the right to adequate emergency relief, is to vote overwhelmingly; a 100% turnout in urban poor communities is the obvious response to this tragedy.
The second group that must realize this is Democrats. It is we who must take up this issue and press it as hard as we can. We must become, once again, the champions of the poor, of the "have-nots". If we don't, then in my opinion, we might as well admit that we have become Republicans. The issue of basic rights and all of the corollaries and implications must again become central to all Democrats. This isn't an argument for redistribution of wealth: the poor will in fact always be with us. But we must come to a national consensus regarding what the poorest among us deserve from our nation, and what they don't; this should be made into the clearest possible national policy statement.
We can't stand by and let this happen, ever again.
Greg Shenaut