Over at RealClearPolitics, Robert Tracinski writes:
And what about federal spending on the rebuilding of New Orleans? The federal government, far from ignoring the Gulf Coast, has pledged the astonishing sum of $120 billion dollars, far more than for any previous natural disaster. Tens of billions have already poured out of the federal coffers–largely to disappear into the unreformed swamp of Louisiana political corruption.
Yes, this is about a failure of government, all right. It’s about the failure of big government and the welfare state and the whole philosophy behind them. It is about the vital necessity to move away from government handouts and toward personal responsibility and private initiative. Hurricane Katrina demonstrated that the moral difference between self-reliance and dependence on government is ultimately the difference between life and death.
The only institution for which the press has any praise on the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina is, naturally enough, the press. They have spent much of this week congratulating themselves on what a marvelous job they did–which is the surest indication that they have completely missed the real story.
Writing for the New York Times op-ed page, liberal commentator Juan Williams echoes these thoughts. Could the libertarian right and saner elements of the left be heading for a convergence in the wake of Katrina?