It’s not often that I write about politics in the United States, but the response on both sides of the aisle to the Hurricane Katrina devastation has really shaken me to the point where I feel it necessary to discuss the implications of the proposals. This blog is about democracy and good government, and especially about how to make them work. So this is rather pertinent. Glenn Reynolds points to this part of President Bush’s speech, in which he advocates a much broader, bigger role for the federal government.

Yet the system at every level of government, was not well coordinated and was overwhelmed in the first few days. It is now clear that a challenge on this scale requires greater federal authority and a broader role for the armed forces — the institution of our government most capable of massive logistical operations on a moment’s notice.

Military capabilities are indeed strong; the response to last year’s December tsunami showed that. Naval carriers have medical supplies, food, beds, can produce tens of thousands of gallons of fresh water, and house the logistical support — helicopters, personnel, etc. — to carry out large scale operations. Donald Sensing makes the point that the role of the federal government has always been to fill in the gaps where the state and local governments could not perform. In the case of Aceh, one of the most devastated areas by the tsunami and where their government by far could not save its people, a coalition of military forces were able to fill in those gaps.

But seriously, that’s Sri Lanka, not a state government of the United States. President Bush is wrong in saying that the federal government is the most capable of dealing with such a disaster at a simple moment’s notice. No — local and state governments remain the first and therefore the most necessary institutions in place to deal with huge disasters. This article by Lou Dolinar goes into detail about what went right with the response to Katrina, and notes that all of it can be attributed to the bravery of responsiveness of those always on the ground.

Remember back to September 11, 2001, when we celebrated the firefighters and policeman of New York City who were the only ones capable of rushing into those towers at a moment’s notice. And those souls on Flight 93 who confronted their terrorist assailants, when no one else could come to their aid. We acknowledged the necessity of strengthening our borders, making our intelligence services more efficient, things like that. You know, to fill in the gaps. Yet what we got was borders that, over the past four years, have become lawless and intelligence services that are still in the gutter. In this case, it was FEMA that showed just how little the federal government can really do.

Remind me again how the federal government is the most capable of dealing with absolutely anything? It absolutely failed to deal with its problems after the September 11 terrorist attacks, whereas those operating on the scene, at the lowest level of government, performed astoundingly.

What happened in the wake of Hurricane Katrina was a failure of the Louisiana government, state and local, to take the necessary measures in dealing with what was obviously going to be its largest disaster ever. Disaster relief and recovery programs in other Gulf states work very well, so it just testifies to the fact that the LA government is incompetent. But that can be remedied easily. Next election season, LA voters will sack their government and vote for people who will be good leaders and fix their system. They have direct influence over the way that they handle such disasters, whereas they have little influence over how to direct federal government programs for disaster relief.

The reason that states cannot perform as well as they should in these circumstances is because the federal government has usurped their responsibility. Incompetence like that of Governor Blanco and Mayor Nagin is only possible when they aren’t forced to deal with the responsibilities of governing a state. By forcing them to deal with it, it will force the citizens of Louisiana to vote in real leadership.

It’s only logical then that instead of strengthening the federal government, which has proven to be inept time and again, we should devolve more power to state and local governments so that they can better handle the peculiarities of their situations. Those firefighters, policeman, and rescue workers that saved thousands upon thousands of people from the floods are the ones who need to be given more power and more authority to do the right thing in desperate situations, because they have proven time and time again that they will do it. Along with their local and state governments, they are directly accountable to the people of Louisiana, so beside their incredible track record, they will likely continue to do the right thing.

Contrary to President Bush’s comments, this is the only way to make sure that the best response during the hours immediately after a disaster is possible.