It is likely that thousands died in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina, while waiting nearly 5 days for a response from their government. This government response was pitiful — shameful even — and can, at best, be called a miserable failure.
The federal government has an entire agency devoted to responding to national emergencies. This agency is called the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and apparently it receives over $6 billion per year of our tax dollars. Six billion dollars a year. Six billion dollars a year to manage emergencies, and people are dying for 5 days before this emergency showed any signs of management.
The FEMA response to Katrina is getting absolutely slammed by the media, victims of the hurricane, and average citizens — and rightfully so. I am thrilled to see people finally demanding some accountability from their government, it is just unfortunate that it required such a disaster to make it happen.
I only hope that this outrage brings about the right type of change. It would be sad if the result is a 3 year study on “what went wrong” — followed by a tripling of FEMA’s funding. I truly believe that the “red tape” created by the current level of funding helped lead to the situation we are in today.
In order to successfully respond and manage emergency situations, it seems imperative that an organization be small, fast, able to respond quickly, with management and personnel empowered to make instant decisions. This can not happen in a six billion dollar bureaucracy, and hurricane Katrina was proof.
Is it even possible for our 2.5 trillion dollar government to create an agency that is capable of properly responding to such emergencies? With the government as it is today, I can’t see how. This federal government seems to fail and disappoint us in virtually everything that it undertakes. Are we sure that we want to trust these bureaucrats with such an important task as this?
Most people, even quite a few Libertarians, would argue that responding and managing natural disasters is exactly the type of thing the federal government should be doing. I will not argue with those who believe that. But can’t we agree that the entire government should be smaller, so that politicians can focus more on things like this that are truly important?
When is the last time the Senate conducted hearings on our disaster relief strategies? If Senators had been questioning the heads of FEMA instead of asking baseball players about steroids, could we have been more responsive? Could lives have been saved?
If Congressmen had been asking disaster readiness questions instead of adding pork to the recently passed $286 billion highway bill, could we have been more prepared? Could lives have been saved?
Our federal government is growing uncontrollably, expanding into areas it has no business. This seemingly endless expansion makes it even less efficient, taking focus away from the important things. How many lives could have been saved if the focus was where it belonged? Now is the time to stand up and hold these politicians accountable.
