a continuing celebration of virtue

20 Nov 2005

Nathan Moore lives up to his blog’s motto by providing us with a true continued celebration of virtue:

The contention that the federal government has caused the problems that now beset the city is oh-so-typical of a mindset that believes the federal government holds in its bureaucratic bowels an elixir to all society’s ills. This is simply not the case. A paralysis analysis governor and a boob of a mayor ensured not only that damage and human suffering would not be mitigated in the face of the storm, but also that the recovery effort would be that much more difficult.

…

Those interested in the rebuilding of New Orleans would do well to abandon it.

I presume that in advocating the abandonment of New Orleans, Nathan, like others, is hoping for the arrival of legions of faeries and leprechauns who will relocate and operate the nation’s largest port.

UPDATE: At Nathan’s post he clarified that in the last sentence I quoted, the “it” was referring to the “Washington-centric” approach to rebuilding New Orleans – not rebuilding in general.

Needless to say, I disagree with this approach, for all the reasons outlined in yesterday’s Times-Picayune editorial:

The federal government decided long ago to try to tame the river and the swampy land spreading out from it. The country needed this waterlogged land of ours to prosper, so that the nation could prosper even more.

Some people in Washington don’t seem to remember that. They act as if we are a burden. They act as if we wore our skirts too short and invited trouble.

We can’t put up with that. We have to stand up for ourselves.