My small Louisiana hometown is now overrun

with evacuees, and it is expected that many of them won’t be leaving.

How will the locals handle this sudden doubling of the population

(e.g., the schools, and so forth)? I wonder how New Orleanians who

choose to make their homes there from now on will take to living in a

small country town? This is going to be an … interesting experiment.

I got to thinking, though, that some smart people ought to look into a

government program to resettle willing New Orleanians in the small

Plains towns that have been emptying out for more than a generation. It might not be feasible — after all, what would these folks do

for a living? — but on the other hand, it just might work. Anywhere

you have a critical mass of folks, you are going to have a local

economy. Hundreds of thousands of people have nowhere to go and nothing

to lose. The government is going to have to do something for them

anyway — why not offer to stake willing pioneers with money to buy or

renovate a house, and start a small business in one of these dying

rural towns? I can’t imagine that most Crescent City urbanites would go

for it — but I bet enough would to make a real go of it in a number of

these places. After all, if you can get a decent po-boy and a cup of

coffee, a south Louisianian can make do just about anywhere. If I were

Plains State governors and congressmen, I’d start working on relocation

offers.