Get it? It’s a pun.

So, apparently, a hurricane came through down south somewhere, and people are upset. Lots of finger-pointing. Lots of people playing “the blame game” (I love that game… it’s almost as fun as Mousetrap). As of yet, you, dear reader, have not known what to think about the problem because I have not yet weighed in. Well, you can rest easy because you will now get my opinion.

For many years, our Federal Government has been taking and receiving more and more responsibility from the states. From the highway system to the federal income tax to education to the military, the states have abdicated and the feds have confiscated much of the responsibility that was originally reserved to the them by the U.S. Constitution. Now, for all of George Bush’s (and the rest of our so-called conservative elected officials) faults, they have had a pattern of attempting to shift much of the responsibilities back to their original locations, that is, back into the hands of the states. They have not been flawless in their attempts, but it seems to be their goal.

However, many states have not yet gotten the message. The state of Louisiana has a Democrat for a governor. New Orleans has a Democrat for a mayor. Democrats have a tendency to promote a top-down form of power… that is, authority and responsibility originates at the federal level, and is delegated to the states.

Now, if you have Democrats in local government positions and Republicans in Federal positions, when a disaster happens, you’re going to see some really sad finger pointing. The locals are going to look the feds, and the feds are going to say, “It’s not our job to fix your problems!”

As a good ol’ states’ rights neo-confederate, I agree with the position of the federal government, at least in principle. However, I think it’s very obvious that the handing back of responsibility from the feds to the states much be done patiently and in order. While it’s too early to say that this is what happened, it’s wrong for a federal government to simply stop providing after they’ve been doing so for so long. It’s as bad as simply cancelling federal welfare or social security one day, even though it’s wrong. People are depending on it, and the transition period has to allow those who should be shouldering the weight to get used to it.

It seems that Louisiana and New Orleans were not ready to fend for themselves.