The blame game vs. an ounce of prevention.

"The blame game," has been mentioned by the media and politicians in regard to the recent tragedies along the Gulf Coast and in the city of New Orleans. After careful consideration of the facts and contemplation of the chain of command I believe I have definitively arrived at the answer to this question of who exactly is to blame. Fair warning, the answer may surprise you.

In light of Michael B. Brown's recall to Washington and reassignment, it would seem that they administration has found their scapegoat. But is this really where the bulk of the blame lies?

True, Bush chose to hire someone whose qualifications were to say the least insufficient, and the president must bear the preponderance of the culpability for that act. There is little doubt that if the state and local governments had been provided with the logistical support and organizational strategies which they required, lives would surely have been saved. But unfortunately the buck does not stop with the president.

In the end it is the people of the United States, the electorate and those that choose not to vote as well, who bear the ultimately responsible for those lives lost along the Gulf Coast and within the city of New Orleans which could otherwise have been saved. That's right the people of the United States are to blame for the circumstances which compounded this disaster, for it is the people who allowed George W. Bush to become the president of the United States, not once but twice. Therefore in the final analysis the responsibility lies with us.

Although a number of factors conspired to create this sorry situation, that in no way excuses us or relieves us of the responsibility for allowing people to die needlessly within the borders of most powerful and economically sound country on the face of the globe. WE THE PEOPLE are wholly culpable for electing a leader who apparently genuinely believes that cutting taxes is of greater importance then maintaining and reinforcing our country's vital infrastructure.

In an undeniably real sense the redistribution of tax money to the wealthy is in large part responsible for the multiple failures of our disaster relief system which occurred across the Gulf Coast and in New Orleans. Sadly those tax rebates not only cost us lives, but will undoubtedly cost the country's overall economic base far more over the long term, not to mention the enormous expenditure of taxpayer funds it's going to take to get the south back on its feet.

Simply viewing the current situation from a cost-benefit analysis, it would've been vastly cheaper to have applied those tax dollars to the reinforcement of the levees in Louisiana and the buttressing FEMA's resources and organizational structure, then it will ultimately be to pay for the additional cost of fixing this current, in many ways preventable, mess.

For my part I don't exactly remember what I did with my tax rebate, but in hindsight, if I could go back and donate that money to the state of Louisiana to help them reinforce those levees, I would surely do so.


Washington tries to evade political responsibility for Katrina’s devastating impact