Reply to "Destruction in our southeast gulf states"

The wages of Socialism
Posted by Andrew Walden

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 9-5 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 1000 of New Orleans 1500 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 August 31 and September 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 as 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 which
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 reelected 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 towards 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 which 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.