Andy @ Hillhome.org

I’ve been thinking a lot about all the money we’re about to spend on reconstruction of New Orleans, and other areas. With Rita bearing down on Texas, and already causing at least one NO levee to break again, it seems that we may not even be close to knowing the full extent of this year’s devastation.

I have read a lot of different opinions out there, including those who say that we should remember the old days, when the federal government would not have assisted in any significant way. I first received this opinion via e-mail, but then found it online as well. The facts are questionable, as I couldn’t find evidence of any hurricane in 1927 in my cursory search. However, the underlying sentiment is a reflection of a broader opinion by many people that we should not simply dole out federal money in the form of blank checks to blindly rebuild the city. Some of the more conservative Republicans in congress are not entirely on-board with the President’s plans, either.

National Review’s John Tamny writes an interesting column, talking about the flood of 1927 that hit New Orleans (probably the disaster that the writer above mistook for a hurricane). In short, we need to take care that we are not spending money for political expediency, something that both Democrats and Republicans seem all to willing to do, trying to prove that their respective party is more sympathetic to the plight of gulf coast residents than the other. Nothing the federal government has done in the entire history of this country suggests that it is the best entity to re-construct an entire region. It will obviously have to be involved, but the less so, the better for all of us - especially the residents of that area.