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Katrina and the Death of Federalism
By JBC | September 6, 2006
One year ago, Americans were mesmerized by the destruction of much of the Gulf Coast. Similar to our feelings of helplessness of September 11th 2001, we were shocked and saddened by the inability of our governments, the most powerful on earth, to protect American citizens from the forces of nature. It is in this atmosphere of helplessness and sympathy, along with useless and inflammatory diatribes from charlatans like Spike Lee and Michael Moore, that governments consider remedies which are more destructive than 125 MPH winds and 30 foot waves.
To say that the federal government bungled the aftermath of the great storm is akin to saying that Bill Buckner slightly misplayed an easy grounder in 1986. George W. Bush and the GOP, once the children of Ronald Reagan and unabashed support of federalism, committed billions of federal dollars in large lump sums to rebuilding schemes and individual assistance that couldn’t have gone more wrong. The Gulf Coast is still in a severe state of disrepair, and all those millions spent on strippers, lottery tickets, and booze have done little to improve well-being of the former inhabitants of New Orleans. To say that federal aid, applied in such a fashion, is unconstitutional is to yell into an empty cave. We have very few ardent supporters of the United States Constitution these days and live in, as Joseph Sobran likes to call it, Post-Constitutional America. Even Grover Cleveland, as Mr. Sobran has pointed out many times, refused to provide relief to Texas residents who suffered through a disastrous drought, because it was not within the powers of the federal government as defined by the Constitution. He said, “I feel obliged to withhold my approval of the plan to indulge in benevolent and charitable sentiment through the appropriation of public funds … I find no warrant for such an appropriation in the Constitution. The lesson should be constantly enforced that though the people should support the government, the government should not support the people.”
The effects of the Katrina disaster on the American body politic are much greater than the simple constitutionality of pork barrel spending. In the latest Defense Authorization Act proposal, President Bush requested a mandate to allow the president to federalize National Guard units, without a governor’s prior consent, during domestic disasters. It might be one thing to send National Guard units to fight foreign wars (although that is nonsense as well), but it seems much more troubling to give the President of the United States carte blanche under the guise of a national emergency at home. To what extent would the President utilize or abuse this right? If we decide to allow the President to have this much control over units that report directly to the state executive office, why would we need State Governors at all? If we continue down this unconstitutional path of centralized power, why do we need States? Should we not just throw up our hands and say, OK OK OK, enough of the charade, let’s cut out the “middle men” and pay our allegiance directly to the Kremlin….errr, I mean Capitol Hill.
Even the Governors of the previously semi-autonomous fifty states, as weak and dependent as they are on the teat of Uncle Sam, have said that this is a bridge too far. Major General Frank Vavala of the Delaware National Guard, in an unprecedented proper public evocation of the “C-word”, stated “This is counter to the [U.S.] Constitution and the constitutional militia clause, which of course gives the governor the authority over the National Guard,” It seems that the press, liberal conspiracy or not, have galvanized to pin the full blame for the disastrous evacuation and rescue operations in the immediate aftermath of the storm on the President. Mr. Bush’s response is to remove the decision-making power from inept Governors, like the one in Louisiana. Now, authority SHOULD be removed from the sitting potentate in Louisiana, and all other local leaders who lack the ability or motivation to do what is necessary to defend, protect and aid their constituents. However, this should be done by those with the Constitutional right to do so….the citizens of Louisiana. George Bush was elected President of the United States. He was not anointed King George IV.
America needs to awake from this pork-barrel induced narcosis, and realize that we are the descendants of great explorers, settlers, frontiersman, and warriors, all skeptical of oppressive centralized authority. We should grow up as a people, reclaim our heritage, and honor the memories of our ancestors.
JBC
Topics: The South, The Constitution, States Rights, Political Philosophy, Democraps, Republicants |
