The Rise, Decline, and Fall of America

The "finger pointing" began even before the last winds of Hurricane Katrina lay. It was the President’s fault. It was the military’s fault, it was anybody, and everybody’s, fault… save for those whose responsibility was to evacuate those people in New Orleans and see to their safety. That would be who, exactly? Well, exactly, it would be the “local leaders” on the scene… the Mayor of New Orleans and the Governor of Louisiana. They are the City Executive and the State Executive. The welfare of the people of their state is THEIR problem.

As I said, in an earlier post, the US government is massive and ponderous. It cannot get up, and moving, in instantaneous fashion. It is impossible for it to do. To expect that to happen shows a “disconnect” with reality. You would expect the average citizen to lack the knowledge that massive rescue operations, run by government, are slow to respond, but extremely efficient when they do. What you would not expect is that Municipal leaders and State leaders would not know this. In fact… I believe they did know. That leaves no room for error in their own local planning.

Look, I can tell you, from personal experience, that you do not “call-up” a company of National Guardsmen, in a few hours, and expect them to show up fully equipped, with all their equipment in complete working order, ready to go to work. Now remember, most of the Louisiana National Guard have homes, and family, right there amidst the storm tossed rubble. They, themselves, were sort of busy.

First you have to “call them up”. That, alone, is a massive undertaking. Once you have the Guard mustered, you have to equip them with everything they’ll need. Then, transportation has to be arranged, food supplies for the troops must be arranged and all the other arrangements for moving a massive number of men and equipment, in a safe manner, and have them arrive on scene. Once on scene, they have to “set-up”. Now, this is an over simplification and I’ve only just scratched the surface here with this little lesson in calling up the troops.

Now, understand, there is a major difference between the National Guard and the Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine Reservists. The former is under the control of THE GOVERNOR OF THE STATE! The Reservists are FEDERAL TROOPS. Those Reservists come from all over the US. The National Guard is “on scene” in the state where the disaster occurs. The President cannot order the National Guard of Louisiana to do anything, unless the Governor of the state gives his, or her, consent for that state’s National Guard to be FEDERALIZED!

Do you begin to get a hint as to where the original mistakes toward preventing and solving this problem lay?

We have all seen the heart stirring scenes of the vast “Air Armada” of US troops ferrying evacuees from the nightmare of what was once a beautiful city.

You cannot pre-position Rescue Ships near the path of a hurricane. Ships, in harbor, are ordered to sea until the threat of a hurricane is past. Aircraft have got be moved as well. You cannot leave aircraft close enough to a passing Hurricane to damage those assets. Ground Transportation must be relocated to safer motor pools away from the storm. All these assets are of no use until the threat is past. Only then can they be moved toward the disaster area.

Now, all this, I have related to you above, is KNOWN to the MUNICIPAL and STATE executives! If they do not know it, or they choose not to act in a manner, which would allow the Military Assets of their city, and state, to be of immediate use, after the devastation of a storm such as Katrina, then THAT is where investigative inquiries should… and WILL begin.

They are going to be called upon to explain their actions, and re-actions, before, during, and after Hurricane Katrina .

Abraham Lincoln is credited with having said: “It is better to keep your mouth closed and allow others to wonder if you are fool, than to open it… and remove all doubt.” When the investigations begin, as they surely will, I expect there will be a number of spokespersons for the Political Left, in the US, who will suddenly be struck with selective amnesia. But, their words, and their actions, are captured on audio, and video, tape for the generations yet unborn to see, and hear, and marvel, as they shake their heads in derision.

From the New Orleans City Hall to the Louisiana State House there needs to be a “general housecleaning”. That will be up to the people of New Orleans and Louisiana.
In the days, weeks, months and years ahead there will be much bickering over whether, or not, to rebuild the city of New Orleans on it’s traditional site. (A site, which is now under water and, if Nature has her way, will remain under water.) Or, to relocate the city to higher, safer, ground. The politics involved with this decision, alone, will be staggering! The common sense answer to this question is simple, as common sense answers tend to be, MOVE THE CITY. No matter the answer eventually arrived at, the city of New Orleans is forever changed. Louisiana families are forever changed. The same is true for Mississippi and Alabama. I would, however, wager that Mississippi, and Alabama, will have much less difficulty getting the jobs done in their states.

I was born just a few months before the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. The first five years of my life, the “formative” years, were during the height of the Second World War and victory over both Germany and Japan. Then came the rebuilding of the country’s economics in the late forties. Then, I had the fantastic good fortune to be a teenager in the 50’s.

Two things marked me for life… America’s "invincibility" and America’s “can do” attitude. As a young student in grammar school, I remember well that uttering the words “I can’t” would bring an instant “paddling”. Such a scenario today would bring the wrath of the ACLU down on the school's collective heads.

America has lost that sense of invincibility, and worse, America has lost that “Can Do” attitude. This fact was brought home to me, in a resounding way, when I saw those helpless dependents on government in New Orleans over the past few days

My heart broke. Not just for the evacuees, but for America. A nation, an ideal, forever lost. That tenuous hold, America had on the future, has been allowed to slip from our grip, as we placed more and more of our faith, and dependence, on the government rather than our God and, ourselves. A nation, which does not believe in itself, cannot long endure.

After viewing the unfolding events in Louisiana, this last week, I am convinced that America has reached, and past, her Zenith. We are now, officially, in our declining years.

Centuries from now, as students of history study the rise, decline, and fall of a once great nation, lost forever in the mists of time, they will doubtless ask how could a great people, the greatest nation on earth, suffer such a fate? The answer will be uncomplicated, simple, and yet as cutting as only the truth can be: They forgot who they were. You see, they were Americans!

“Longstreet”