Once upon a time your faithful correspondent was a child. Even a young child, believe it or not. At that time, being a child I wanted everything and truly believed I desired everything because I was me and there was nothing more important than me. So, after scrambling my brains watching Saturday morning cartoons and the associated commercials, I would announce to my parents that I wanted a Mr. Machine robot (or a Johnny 7 OMA or a Fanner .45 or whatever) and occasionally my parents would say "No." My counterargument would be something like, "But I need a Mr. Machine." To which said parents would reply, "No one needs a Mr. Machine. We'll buy you a new yo-yo instead if you're a good laddie." Which would elicit my worst condemnation: "You're a Meanie!"
In looking over the proposed Federal spending for the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina I have come to the conclusion that I have inherited the Meanie gene.
I appears that Mr. Bush and Company have decided to rebuild every damn thing in the affected area, but only better. Not only will interstate highways, levees and locks (all under the aegis of the Federal government), but also sewers, roads, houses and probably casinos and brothels (which legally fall under the authorities of the state and local governments).
In other words, the Federal government has become truly a Big Daddy on the Gulf Coast. The state and local governments get a pass. They don't have to do their jobs. After all, why should the governments of New Orleans and Louisiana do their jobs now that the damage has been done when they never bothered to do their jobs before the hurricane?
It's infuriating. Back in 1900 a hurricane hit Galveston, Texas that resulted in the deaths of 8,000 to 12,000 people. The local and state governments appealed to the then president, Grover Cleveland, for Federal aid for the rebuilding of the area. President Cleveland said, in effect, "I'd like to help you. But, constitutionally I am unable to. The only thing that the Federal government can do is rebuild those things having to do with Federal matters such as Federal highways, canals and harbors. For me to go any further would be to violate the Constitution I have sworn to uphold."
But Cleveland lived in the days before Geraldo Rivera sobbing on the tube or Shepherd Smith throwing a hissy fit before a television camera. In fact, he lived before radio. And perhaps because he was living in a print age when matters where discussed in black and white instead of technicolor, he got away with being a Meanie. He was able to live within the legal restraints of his office and explain the restraints of the role of the Federal government. Now, in the age of instant answers it is, for some reason, the place of the Federal government to provide answers instead of those who purport to be closest to the people on the ground. The civic government of New Orleans plans the next Mardis Gras while the Feds (and you and me through our taxes) bear the burden of rebuilding the city.
The current attitude of the Feds being the saviors of the populace in matters other than defense and commerce makes one wonder what would have happened if our pioneer fore-fathers had the same attitude. The pioneers would have probably never gotten beyond Ohio, if that far, because the Feds would have been expected to not only clear farmland, but build log cabins, roads and local schools.
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