Posted on 09/06/2005 4:26:40 PM PDT by RWR8189
Late last week, as New Orleans was sliding into savage conditions, some talking heads were glowing with pleasure at the idea of a moral meltdown of such immense proportions that it would not only bury George Bush in its rubble, but erode forever the country's self confidence. Or, as Robert Scheer would happily write, "Instead of the much-celebrated American can-do machine that promises to bring freedom and prosperity to less fortunate people abroad, we have seen a callous official incompetence that puts even Third World rulers to shame."
Not quite. The reason New Orleans slid so quickly from civilization into Third World conditions was that it was pretty much a Third World city already, and didn't have too far to go. In its violence, in its corruption, in its reliance on ambience and tourism as its critical industry, in its one-party rule, in its model of graftocracy built on a depressed and crime-ridden underclass that was largely kept out of the sight and the mind of vacationing revelers, it was much more like a Caribbean resort than a normal American city. Its crime and murder rates were way above national averages, its corruption level astounding. The latter was written off as being picturesque and perversely adorable, until it suddenly wasn't, as it paid off in hundreds of buses--that could have borne thousands of stranded people to safety--sitting submerged in water, and police either looting or AWOL.
In 1831, Alexis de Tocqueville defined a long set of traits that made Americans "different," and that remain today just as valid: Americans are restless, inventive, pragmatic, entrepreneurial, socially mobile, and so future-oriented they are ready and eager sometimes to let go of the past. None of these things defined what once was New Orleans; in fact, that poor destroyed city played them in reverse: It was socially static, fairly caste-ridden, non-entrepreneurial (read hostile to business), and wholly immersed in its past, to the point where its main industry is marketing ambience and nostalgia. "New Orleans's dominant industry lies not in creating its future but selling its past," wrote Joel Kotkin in the Wall Street Journal's OpinionJournal.com. "Tourism defines contemporary New Orleans's economy more than its still-large port, or its remaining industry, or its energy production. Although there is nothing wrong, per se, in being a tourist town, it is not an industry that attracts high-wage jobs; and tends to create a highly bifurcated social structure. This can be seen in New Orleans's perennially high rates of underemployment, crime and poverty." New Orleans, in short, was the place you went to take a vacation, not to prosper in life and start a family, much less start a business. This lack of opportunity, or the upward ladder of social mobility, is perhaps one reason so many evacuees felt they were breathing fresh air when they landed in Houston, and are deciding to make it their home.
Let us look now at Houston, for it is the second city in this cosmic drama, and one in which Tocqueville would feel right at home. Like so many cities in the Sunbelt, it is expanding, entrepreneurial, based on the future, and the place where the "much celebrated American can-do machine that promises to bring freedom and prosperity to less fortunate people" comes roaring to life. "In l920, New Orleans's population was nearly three times that of Houston," says Kotkin. "During the '90s, the Miami and Houston areas grew almost six times as fast as greater New Orleans, and flourished as major destinations for immigrants . . . These newcomers have helped transform Miami and Houston into primary centers for trade, investment and services, from finance and accounting to medical care for the entire Caribbean basin. They have started businesses, staffed factories, and become players in civic life."
It is now no surprise that Houston is the place where in days they built a new city in and around the Astrodome, that has taken in 25,000 refugees from New Orleans, and is planning to feed, house, employ, and relocate most of them. Houston is the place where the heads of all the religious groups in the city--Baptists and Catholics, Muslims and Jews--came together to raise $4.4 million to feed the evacuees for 30 days, and to supply 720 volunteers a day to prepare and serve meals. If New Orleans was where the Third World broke through, Houston was where the First World began beating it back, and asserting its primacy. Are we surprised that the star of this show has been Texas, home of Karl Rove and both Bushes, widely despised by the glitterati as sub-literate, biased, oppressive, and retrograde? No.
Noemie Emery is a contributing editor to The Weekly Standard.
"With several highways, 2 major and other smaller airports, a Republican government and 6 million generally decent people in the greater area, Houston would not be lawless for long (if at all)"
If there was looting and violence in huricane Alicia, or TS Allison, I didn't hear about it. I'm sure it happened in a city that size, but it wasn't rampant. I lived in Houston in 83, after Alicia there was price gouging but looters just didn't have the guts to try. Wherever you are, know your neighbors and look out for each other
Well the good news is that there are no other major cities with any drug problems.
America dodged a bullet there.
If we can fix this then Houston will be drug free just like LA, Motown and DC.
Thanks for the ping thackman. Fergot to ping you to the above pos# 17t.
I knocked my cough Syzurrp off the desk and lost my train of .............
Or post 22 or Wild Cherry.................
Ummmm.................
Yeah, this is a middle class problem.
There is all that.
I understand from an acquaintance that the violence that came to town with the refugees is going and will continue to go largely un/under reported.
bttt
I think the author over speaks Houston's glories given the mess the Houston Police department is in.
Because they NEVER know which Texan will pull out a self-defense implement and use it correctly ending the looting event and the looter's life. Still that way today. A lot of homes look like the displays in WalMart but better tools.
Are you nuts?
No city in the world could handle 26 inches of rain in a 24 hour period.
Tropical storm Alicia was an anamoly, and in no way reflects negatively on Houston's "planning."
Houston has its problems, as does any major city. But the ability of the city to mobilize and set up the Astrodome to accommodate 11,000 people, in 24 hours, is nothing short of miraculous, to say nothing of dispersing another 12,000 people in other shelters.
That would be Tropical Storm Allison, not Alicia.
The reason we don't have riots is mostly because we're generally friendly, polite and well-behaved.
Also it's because of the reputation of HPD. You just know they'd love to have free reign to crack heads if they were ordered. LOL
The violent crime that I spoke of (and that police won't investigate) predates the rain.
Also Chuck Rosenthal has already said he will ignore the law passed by the legislature making it permissible to carry a gun in your glovebox without a concealed carry permit.
They'd rather nannystate the citizens with jaywalking tickets, red light cameras, and mandatory tows (with the claim "if it saves ONE life it is worth it").
Part of the poor planning had to do with the destruction at the Medical Center.
Downtown construction also kept drains from working properly.
A bad situation got worse.
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3b21ae1b2c1e.htm
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3b22258f5ec0.htm
Also the rains caught everyone by surprise. What is the weather service for?
I am sure we could criticize Houston non stop for its faults. I am just glad that some neighbors in LA seemed happy for a hot shower, good meals, dental and medical care, a 24hr. pharmacy, clothing, volunteers to play with their children while they got paperwork done plus a warm welcome all set up in 2 days inside the astrodome.
No one is going to be thrilled with this situation, but the people around here did their best to meet needs and give comfort. I would like to rejoice in the good as well as absorbing all the bad news I have heard.
I was out of town this past week and forced to endure CNN and MSNBC for all my news. This hasn't happened to me in over a decade and I honestly would have thought George Bush was the anti christ if I didn't follow politics except on the evening news. I felt like I was in an enemy camp where only democrats ran the country and pubs gleefully watched people suffering. You cannot out 'care' a democrat and especially a dem reporter.
As much as I loathed and still loathe unindicted rapist William Jefferson Blythe Clinton, I did not want America to fail. I did not want more soldiers to die in Bosnia. I did not want the stock market or economy to tank. I did not root for natural disasters. It is a shame that those on the political left hate America and want bad things to happen unless their guy is in charge.
This writer has clearly never been to Houston's Third Ward.
Houston is to be commended for its generosity. But if a disaster similar to Katrina had hit there, or any other major city, the outcome wouldn't have been a whole lot different. Nobody is prepared for something like this. Katrina was an order of magnitude greater than anything the US has encountered in at least a century. It's easy and comforting to point fingers; it's a way of convincing ourselves it can't happen to OUR community. But it can and at some point will.
That's why we had better be figuring out how we can do things a LOT better and quit looking for scapegoats on the other side of the political fence...and that comment is directed to BOTH maor political parties. Al Quada is looking at what happened in New Orleans and salivating. Blanco may have dropped the ball, but plenty of things went wrong, and continue to go wrong, with the federal response. We had better correct them ASAP, because we're going to get a chance to run this exercise again, and maybe sooner rather than later.
Not sure I really know what he's saying. He should check the welfare rate of Houston before he proclaims victory. That town is one twister away from chaos.
-------
What he's saying is five paragraphs of self-congratulatory twaddle.
Greetings from Virginia....
I saw the FEMA (feds)...
I still to this day am not sure what they actually were doing...
That whole Allison thing really did a number on us...We learned from it what we needed to do to prepare for the next one...
And we didn't need any relief organizations to get us to do that...We figured it out...
So we're ready now...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.