EX TENEBRIS CRESCIT FLOS
THE NEW ORLEANS MESS
What It Reveals about Structural Problems within the
United States
September 4, 2005
The United States likes to claim that it is the richest and most powerful
country in the world. In fact, its people often make the claim that it is
the greatest country ever to exist. I am a citizen of this country, and I
grew up with this mythology. In my earlier years, I accepted these beliefs
as fact, but the events of recent years have, for me, blasted these beliefs
to smithereens.
Before I go on into my rant, I must say that I still love and care about
this country and the best that it stands for. There may be problems in our
history, but there are also flashes of greatness. The idea, first put into
practice here, that the government is the servant of the people and that they
have the right to choose their government, is among the greatest gifts to
humanity. The idea of the "American Dream", in which any person, regardless
of class standing, can rise to the top of society, is a wonderful idea. Too
bad it is just a pipe dream for most people nowadays.
New Orleans is one of the poorest cities in the country. A tourist mecca is
surrounded by neighborhoods of forgotten people whom society regards as
surplus. This city is also one of the most disaster-prone in the entire
nation. We, as a nation, understand this. The government certainly does.
So what did we do in preparation for the disaster we knew was coming? Not
nearly enough. The mayor issued an evacuation order and most of the population
got into their cars and drove out of the city. But what of those who do not
have cars? As usual, these were the poorest people, and as always, they were
forgotten and left to fend for themselves. Would it have been that hard to
prepare beforehand for the need to evacuate these people? Or do we just not
care whether they live or die? Of course, now that the media is all over this,
we claim that we care. But if we really did, we would be doing something to
attack the structural problems that put such vast numbers of people in
poverty in the first place.
Our economy lately has been organized into a knowledge- and service-based
model, and we have allowed manufacturing to move offshore where labor is
cheaper. The so-called "knowledge-workers", such as myself, are doing well,
but what about everybody else? I was fortunate enough to be born into a
family in which there was enough money to go around and everybody was college
educated, so there was no question of my being able to go to college; it was
assumed, and it happened according to plan. But not everybody is capable of
reaching this level of education. Many people do not have the desire or the
ability, and, unfortunately, some who do are unable to afford it simply due
to the misfortune of being born into a poor family. What are we to do with
all of these people who cannot get a college education? In decades past, these
people went to work at manufacturing facilities, which after many years of
struggle, had finally reached the point that they paid a good wage. So a
person with little more than a high school education and some work experience
could live a decent life. Poverty still existed, of course, and it likely
always will, but at least the manufacturing industries presented people with an
opportunity to rise out of poverty. But now, the manufacturers have moved to
China, and the only jobs available for low-skill workers are part-time service
jobs that don't pay anything close to a living wage and don't offer health
care benefits. It is, of course, the people who have fallen behind and have no
opportunities for improvement who got left behind in the New Orleans
evacuation.
If we truly are the richest country in the world, why can't we afford to
provide proper disaster preparations? And, for that matter, why can't we
afford to provide a basic level of health care for everybody, rather than to
cruelly tie this basic human right to employment status? And why can't we
afford to educate those who have the ability, but not the means, at the
college level? Some real talent is going to waste because of this. Is
fighting a stupid war in Iraq more important? Evidently, it is. Is it more
important to give massive tax cuts to the wealthiest people in society and to
the greedy multinational corporations? Evidently, it is. A few people make
out like bandits while many languish in poverty with no hope and while our
nation's infrastructure crumbles from neglect. The complacent middle class
continue to buy cheap products from China and elsewhere, their low prices
the result of vicious exploitation of people in those third-world countries.
It can be argued that our massive expenditures are improving the lives of
people in those countries? Maybe this is true, at least for some of them, but
should we be sending all kinds of money overseas when it could be more
productively used to rebuild our own society?
Thanks to cheap energy, we can buy all kinds of products half a world away and
ship them here. This includes staple products, absolutely necessary for our
country to function, such as steel, food, clothing, and of course oil. A
steel plant in Provo, Utah, sits abandoned while we buy our steel from
overseas. This plant was built to support World War II, when we were in dire
need of steel and needed to spread production capacity around the country to
reduce the risk that someone might blow up our steel factories. There was a
compelling national security reason for this steel plant at that time, and I
would argue that there still is. What happens if our overseas supplies dry up?
Our steel production capacity has decayed and it would take ages to rebuild it.
Purely for national security reasons, we should keep these plants running and
subsidize them if necessary. Damn the World Trade Organization. Our
national security is far more important than having "free trade" which allows
big companies to get rich while they move jobs overseas. It is absolutely
ridiculous for us to be importing items which meet our basic needs unless there
is no other way to get them; all countries should produce these items locally
to the extent possible. Massive international trade should be limited to
luxury and nonessential items. Shipping essentials all over the place is a
waste of our dwindling oil supplies, especially when we could be producing
these items at home. Of course, if we went back to local production, things
would cost more. But more people would be able to afford them, as the influx
of manufacturing jobs would provide a good living for low-skill workers, and
people such as those who were left behind in the hurricane might actually be
presented with opportunities to improve their situations. This, of course,
assumes that the new manufacturers pay a decent wage, and they will not unless
they are forced to do so.
Our country is suffering from a severe moral deficit. Greed reigns supreme,
and a cruel every-man-for-himself attitude prevails. People rail against
supposed moral ills such as homosexuality and abortion, but they allow the
real moral ills to run wild. What happened to the idea that we need to help
those who are less fortunate? Do the Bible-bashers conveniently forget about
this? Maybe they feel satisfied by giving a bit of money to a charity or by
donating some time or money to disaster relief, but they ruin the country
by supporting politicians whose policies promote greed, neglect of
infrastructure, destruction of the environment, and massive loss of good jobs.
Yes, I am referring to the Republicans, but are the Democrats much better?
Not much. Many have been bought off by the forces of greed and destruction,
and the party as a whole has few ideas and ineffective leadership. Both
parties have excellent policies in their distant past, but the good has been
unceremoniously thrown out. What happened to the enlightened Republican ideals
of promotion of civil rights represented by Lincoln and his compatriots? What
happened to their promotion of environmental conservation as espoused by
Theodore Roosevelt? And for the Democrats, what has become of the New Deal?
Are you prepared to let Franklin Roosevelt's ideals fall by the wayside? Is
corporate money more important? The Democrats are so disorganized that they
risk losing everything. The United States is rushing backwards as quickly as
possible, and there is nobody to stop the impending train wreck. Competent
leadership is dead, and the country is morally bankrupt.
These problems have been bothering me for some time, but the hurricane and its
disastrous aftermath have brought all the ugliness in our country to the
surface. The world is watching and is not impressed. How can we claim to be
such a "great" country when racism is rampant and class stratification is
rushing towards third-world proportions? How can we claim to be so
wonderful when social order breaks down and gangs of armed bandits reduce
portions of one of our major cities to anarchy worthy of Somalia? We have a
lot to think about in this country. The United States is built on a set of
truly inspired ideals. Freedom and equality are written into our constitution
and we have shown a great capacity to care for those less fortunate than
ourselves. It is time to start living up to our own standards. We have this
wonderful myth of "The American Dream" which is familiar to the entire world.
Isn't it time to turn this myth into reality?
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