Yesterday I was at the gym and was using a cardio-machine in the "Newsroom" (so called because there are magazine racks and most importantly, a flat screen forever tuned to a news channel). There was a talking head program with some of the usual suspects discussing the Gulf disaster. I was struck by how mundane and muddled their comments were. I was reminded why I stopped watching those shows but more importantly, why the national dialog in this country is predominantly idiotic.
Speaking of idiocy, James Carville was on the show referenced foaming at the mouth. His beloved Louisiana was ONCE AGAIN, being ignored by the federal government. The precious coastline (a term completely accurate) has been eroding for years and nothing done. The substandard levee system was not maintained and resulted in Katrina devastation. Now, millions of gallons of oil destroying flora and fauna and impacting primarily his Louisiana constituents. Jim topped it off with, if this were happening off Cape Cod the response would be entirely different, or some such nonsense.
Now James Carville is right in being outraged at the federal governments response to the inevitability of a Katrina. And yes, our actions to ecologically maintain Louisiana's wetlands have been pitiful. But unsurprisingly, James never once mentioned exactly what it was the government would have done differently with a Cape Cod spill. That's because there is really nothing it would do except perhaps be more rigorous in its oversight. But we don't do that in America James, that's too socialist in spite of the Constitutions preamble reference to the "general welfare" and the persistent reference to the "public good" (clearly the Gulf qualifies) in the writings of the founders. Frankly, it's unclear what they can do today outside of stopping them from dumping toxic chemicals on oil.
What has caused this Gulf devastation is primarily three things:
TIME
Humans are far from perfect creatures. Individually, they rank any where from fallible to complete ****-ups. As time moves on, endeavors of mankind will bring with it a catastrophic event due to someone screwing up. In this case, we know that oil spills do indeed happen. Did anyone honestly believe that there could never be a drilling rig explosion resulting in an uncapped well? Drillers screw up all the time on land. It's just when it does we have relatively easy access unlike the ocean bottom.
By the way, this is the biggest reason to be opposed to nuclear power. Yes, yes, I know Europe and Japan never had a nuke catastrophe...yet.
GREED
Americans just can't seem to help themselves. They have built this system that is driven by self interest. Making money is not just important, but those that do it well are to be revered and idolized. Limiting ones ability to amass wealth is depriving them of liberty. The only times such limitations are not 100% abhorrent, is when another person limits your ability while they pursue their pile of gold lawfully. How else can anyone explain the wildly successful (in business terms) existence of Exxon after the Valdez experience? I highly doubt BP will be put out of business by the Gulf disaster. After all, we can't impose a corporate death penalty on Exxon or BP even though they destroyed large portions of the earth others depend on for their survival.
Public Policy
That's right, poor choices by the electorate and thus our government's elected leaders yield calamities like the gulf oil spill and the WV mine explosions.
Public policy needs to in part, turn on the nature of the action to be regulated. It needs to ask "who is affected and of what value are the proposed results". If we look at off shore drilling, we know that the potential for a catastrophic event is fairly small but should it happen, the results are devastation. Furthermore, the potential good that comes from them is limited (at least that is my layman's understanding). These rigs should never have been approved because there is no ability of BP or anyone else to prevent it. They cannot be justified by any social science, especially given the risk.
We all know here why we do drill off shore. We know what drives our public policy. It's the same thing that drives individuals...greed and self interest. It is governments role to protect the citizenry. Government needs to take action whenever necessary. A pure system based on greed is dangerous to everyone around it and is not worth preserving. Public policy needs to make measured protections and government needs to be more active in arenas with more potential harm.
P.S. Dear James Carville. I know you as a Democrat first and foremost. I do not know you as an individual that railed against off shore drilling. I have never heard you speak against the chemical factories that infest inner Louisiana providing your other natives with increased cancer risks.
I would be more willing to hear your pleas if you were ever a populist.
On this Memorial Day...I want to wish all the best to the veterans and that God blesses them with an immediate return trip home. Now more than ever, we need their protection by having them right here at home...not in the oil fields on the mid east.