Bibles, Babies, and Bullets

Many people, especially the president of the United States, balk at the idea that they could in any way be responsible for the bad things that happen to good people. If those bad things are done by something (hurricane) or someone else, then we aren’t involved in ethical decision making and therefore absolved from moral responsibility.  This is the reasoning of a five-year old, it is not acceptable in “compassionate” adults. A ship owner who sends an old ship with a full crew and cargo out to sea hoping that a storm won’t brew, has decided to risk lives for profit. He hasn't simply decided to make money, he has decided that making money is more imporant than protecting lives.

Like the ship owner, the Bush administration and members of congress are morally responsible for what happens to the people on their ship. Hurricane Katrina was a mighty storm, but the magnitude of harm and horror inflicted was due to human decisions and choices.  The administration and members of congress were warned repeatedly by scientists, engineers, city planners, risk management experts and scores of others that the city of New Orleans and surrounding areas would not survive or be able to cope with a Katrina level hurricane without significant federal investment, planning and assistance. Emergency planners have known for years that poverty and lack of transportation in the New Orleans area would doom the poor to certain death. The federal government  turned a blind eye, diverted funds to invasions instead of evacuations, and left the matter of sinking, drowning and swimming to local authorities and private individuals.  This is what Hannah Arendt, the philosopher analyst of the Holocust,  meant by "the banality of evil."  We don’t have  to build a gas chamber to inflict unspeakable harm, we just need to look the other way and let the vulnerable sink or swim.

The obligation to protect American lives on American soil begins with an assessment of needs and risks.  Hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, epidemics, unsafe driving, poverty,  and lack of healthcare destroy more lives and property than “terrorist” attacks.The Bush administration and congress know this, they have the numbers.  What they lack is a moral compass and the courage to do the right thing for America’s most vulnerable. Instead of investing in the basic life sustaining necessities, such as a public health system that works, they have squandered the wealth and trust of a nation on tax breaks for millionaires, terrorists who still run free,  and “democracies” that don’t want to be. They should step down. There are plenty of decent, courageous people in the gulf shores area who stepped up to do the right thing, let these men and women  take over.