Posted on 09/27/2005 6:18:50 AM PDT by ElCapusto
What is it that bends and twists the soul of man in New Orleans such that he shoots at his rescuers, steals televisions while others drown, and then blames all and sundry for not helping enough? Biloxi and the rural areas of costal Louisiana and Mississippi have similar ethnic makeup and are equally hard-hit; yet they were not witness to the self-imposed parts of New Orleans’ devastation.
The answer lies in the peculiar political economy of dependency in New Orleans, home to some of America’s last remaining old-style housing "projects," home to legions of life-long welfare recipients and home to the bureaucratic and corrupt political structure which sustains itself by maintaining its "clients" -- in poverty. While the American economy has boomed for two decades, New Orleans remains a city where over 100,000 people cannot afford their own car.
A sedentary life of welfare check cashing combined with the feelings of futility and depression which naturally result from the lack of a guiding purpose in life leads to poor nutrition, alcoholism, drug abuse and then chronic health problems such as hypertension, diabetes, emphysema, and heart disease. New Orleans’ public hospitals service these new clients but do not (or cannot) cure the chronically ill, creating yet another layer of dependency and the corresponding income stream for bureaucrats.
The chronically ill are too weak to work, creating another reason to stay on welfare or disability. Their children are raised by a parent who is herself completely at the mercy of "the system." To the child, the government’s power and responsibility looms larger than mom’s and the father is usually nowhere in sight.
Thus the culture of dependency continues into the next generation as does the culture of "being owed." Since society "owes" them, there is no moral argument against property crimes. Once that slippery slope is reached, violent crimes follow along. The police sometime catch the criminals and they enter the criminal justice "system" becoming, in yet another way, wards of the state. These wards of the state might have benefited most from the jobs created in America’s booming economy -- but they rarely take the initiative to even apply for work. When they do, they usually don’t have an understanding of what it takes to get and keep employment. Without realizing it, their cycle of dependency gives them one excuse after another to feel trapped, "owed," and oppressed -- while living on the dole.
In this world someone who works 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and supports a family is called a "fool." Those who sell drugs, rape, rob, and kill are seen as "getting over." That is "getting over" -- on "the man" who is "holding us all down." This mentality is the product of the welfare state. New Orleans is one of a few cities where welfare has been taken to its full logic.
In New Orleans this culture of entitlement extends far beyond this "underclass." New Orleans police are the lowest paid in America, as part of their job they are expected to contract out to private parties for security services. This naturally leads to all type of corruption which in turn contributes to the public not trusting or respecting the police. When Katrina hit, about 1,000 of New Orleans 1,500 police officers deserted their posts. This single fact, more than any other, has led to the breakdown in law and order, which slowed rescue and relief efforts for two critical days on Aug. 31 and Sept. 1.
The culture of entitlement and dependency also extends to the political establishment of New Orleans and the state of Louisiana. This leads to the mayor pointing his finger at lack of support by state and federal government while his own police dissolve underneath him. Millions of dollars have been sent to New Orleans for decades, but they were siphoned off to various corrupt activities rather than being used to reinforce levies or build up emergency services. This is a state that has never left behind the depression-era populism of Huey Long. Corruption is legion. Most office holders just haven’t been caught yet -- others have been caught but got re-elected anyway.
As New Orleans is physically rebuilt, this political economy of poverty must be demolished. As an example, New Orleans can look to the entrepreneurial cities such as Dallas and Houston, which are taking in tens of thousands of displaced storm victims. Departing their former home to move west, many are saying they will restart their lives in these cities. After the looting and crime, they don’t want anything to do with New Orleans again. The transfer of people away from poverty and corruption and toward entrepreneurship-created-opportunity is one of the few good things to come out of this disaster.
For those who do stay to rebuild, welfare reform and school choice must move to the top of Louisiana’s political agenda. A platoon of federal investigators should reinforce efforts to indict, arrest, and convict politicians and appointed officials for corruption. The city police department must be reformed from top to bottom starting with the termination of those who deserted and following with pay scales commensurate with that of other police departments. The "projects" must be demolished, as they have been in Chicago, Baltimore and many other American cities. Regulations and taxes that strangle small business development must be repealed. The private sector should lead the way in physical reconstruction.
Nothing warps human nature like the belief in "being owed" combined by the feeling, left by paltry welfare payments, that the debt "owed" is never paid. Thousands of welfare recipients are used to having everything given to them -- albeit in insufficient quantity to be satisfying. Thousands have no concept of working for wages, much less building a business. These same thousands rightfully look at the police and politicians as corrupt. In this twisted existence, the idea of initiative and work does not exist. From their distorted view of the world, looting in the midst of disaster and shooting at rescue helicopters makes perfect sense. The Bible tells us that "the wages of sin is death." In New Orleans we are witnessing the wages of socialism.
I'm right behind you. There is no place on FR for that crap.
I don't think that qualifies as a true "false premise," but point taken. Of course, there are no true, perfect comparisons. Take a look at my 60.
Glad you got my back. Thanks.
No problem.
She's not the only one. We work hard enough fighting the slanderous accusations from the left. We don't need idiots hiding behind us and lobbing race-bombs in our name.
Thanks to you, too.
Safe travel. (Same to jerseybikerchick...forgot to mention it).
Great site - thanks.
Another great insight on how the left works in the US is Horowitz's autobiography - "Radical Son".
Not true:
Biloxi:
White - 36177 - 71.43%
Black or African American - 9643 - 19.04%
American Indian and Alaska Native - 248 - 0.49%
Asian - 2590 - 5.11%
New Orleans:
White - 135956 - 28.05%
Black or African American - 325947 - 67.25%
American Indian and Alaska Native - 991 - 0.2%
Asian - 10972 - 2.26%
One of several questionable statements or concepts in this opinion piece, such as When Katrina hit, about 1,000 of New Orleans 1,500 police officers deserted their posts.
Welfare debilitates, no one is arguing with that, but what really motivated these looters was a sense of racial grievance, a fact that the author hints at but doesn't quite say. Such a sense of racial grievance would probably be present among blacks in any case but what really allows it break out so often and so virulently is its promotion by the liberal establishment. Black thugs and the black underclass are the physical and cultural stormtroopers of the left. Much black behavior, from the antics of so-called leaders like the Black Congressional Caucus to the baggy-pantsed-sideways-baseball-capped morons on the street should be mocked and ridiculed in the media, and would be if they were white. Had rap been non-black it would have been mocked out of existence by now. (All these things are manifestations of black separatism, BTW.) Instead this behavior prospers because it's treated with respect by the liberal establishment, and it's treated with respect not on its merits but because it is valuable to that establishment as a political, cultural and even physical weapon. That is what is important to understand.
How utterly ridiculous.
Looters are criminals who deserved to be shot on sight.
Racial grievance? Hardly. It appears that you weigh heavily in on the side of the apologist leftists.
I don't believe this sentence at all.
Trillions have been spent on the phony "War on Poverty" initiated by the evil Lyndon Bird and to no avail.
That ridiculous spending program has increased the base of low-lives who lay around all day waiting for the next goobermint check.
As I've said often, there is no father as he has been replaced by the goobermint handouts.
The Federal government rebuilding New Orleans is not constitutional in any way shape or form.
The tragedy of Katrina pinpointed the real problems: state and local DemocRAT government is bankrupt and worthless.
I agree w/ you completely.
Similarly, the other day I read an article in the WSJ about how West Germany has poured something like 1.47 trillion into East Germany since reunification about 15 years ago. That's about 100 bil / year. And the result? 18% unemployment in the east couple w/ growing calls for greater gvt services and a return to communism.
That's why it kiils me when our current crop of RINOs throws money at the situation in hopes it will buy them political support. It wont.
And we saw what kind of "children" Ol' Daddy Government raised....
Should be billions of dollars.
Based upon today's revelations, termination of the deserting police officers should be pretty easy since a lot of them never existed in the first place. Reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where Cosmo Krammer has been showing up for work every day at an office where he has never been actually hired. After a couple of weeks, he is fired for incompetence. Cosmo says something like, "You can't fire me because I really don't even work here," and his boss responds, "That's what makes this so diificult."
because the vast majority of them work under the table, selling drugs or are professional parents (pop out more children to get more welfare money).
my favourite scam: people who go into a store and spend their food stamps on the cheapest pop they can get, dump it on the sidewalk then turn around and get cash from the deposits.
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