Ken Gorrell:
Katrina exposed America's harmful culture of dependence
By KEN GORRELL
Guest Commentary



WHAT IS a culture of dependence? It is generation after generation of families existing on direct government financial support and sapped of ambition to take care of their own immediate needs or prepare themselves for a better future. For those trapped in this dysfunctional culture, the normal cost-benefit equations of life don't apply. The government safety net becomes a smothering blanket, insulating citizens from the consequences of their actions while reinforcing the poisonous idea that the problems they create for themselves should become someone else's problem to solve.

This idea does not lead to a good or easy life, but it does enable a self-perpetuating existence, unhealthy for both society in general and specifically for those who make themselves wards of the state.

What happens when local and state elected officials — those layers of government most responsible for responding to the needs of local populations — fail in their basic duties to protect life, liberty and property? Members of the culture of dependence are hardest hit.

They are least able, by training, temperament or resources to act in their own best interests or to survive a breakdown in civil order. They are most in need of strong leadership and direct guidance. The self-synchronization of activities practiced daily by the broader population is, for them, an unlearned skill. An emergency situation is not the time to abandon them to the vagaries of fate.

I believe that Hurricane Katrina will be remembered as far more than a powerful storm. By exposing critical structural defects — and here I refer not to the failed levees, but to defects in society and our relationship to government — Katrina was, metaphorically, the perfect storm: The collision of the culture of dependence and ineffectual state and local government.

Effective leadership must be decisive, reasonable and believable. Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans was none of these. He was not decisive in the days leading up to Katrina's landfall. His expectations of citizen compliance with the voluntary evacuation order were not reasonable. Too many of his citizens did not believe or heed his order. Mayor Nagin failed to use the resources at his disposal to best effect or implement his city's own published disaster plan.

Rather than take charge of his city after the storm passed, he spent much of his time blaming others for his failures. While it would be too much to expect a Rudy Giuliani in every city, even half a Giuliani in charge in New Orleans would have saved lives.

An analysis of Governor Kathleen Blanco's actions before and after Katrina hit yields the same depressing conclusion: leadership was in short supply in Louisiana. Those most dependent on government suffered the most, as they always do and always will.

It would be preferred not to have to play the blame game while fellow Americans await rescue from the toxic stew of New Orleans or the devastation of the Gulf Coast. However, the usual suspects — the enablers of the culture of dependence — have already lined up to ensure their noxious propaganda becomes ground truth even before the rebuilding efforts begin.

Part and parcel of their viewpoint is the idea that a "federal case" should be made out of everything regardless of Constitutional strictures. Concentrating power in the federal government is their entering argument for every policy debate, so for them this is simply politics as usual despite the unusual circumstances. By blaming Washington for the multi-layered failures in dealing effectively with Katrina, they concentrate efforts on finding a federal solution to what is by law first and foremost a local and state problem.

The process of learning from our mistakes should be nonpartisan. Of course it will not be. The usual critics of President Bush will concentrate on federal government actions because it is in their partisan interest to do so. Harsh truths will be buried under harsher rhetoric. The President has been criticized for "overstepping" authority by requesting federal power to access local library records in the pursuit of suspected terrorists bent on inflicting Katrina-like death tolls in our cities. These same voices criticize him now for not stepping into local disaster planning and preparedness. A typical liberal dichotomy: Demand federal intrusion contrary to law but hamstring federal efforts to accomplish clearly delineated duties.

It is easier to blame Washington for the consequences we bring upon ourselves when we fail to live up to our responsibilities as individuals or when we elect mediocre state and local officials such as those recently thrust into the national spotlight from New Orleans and Baton Rouge. But in a free society, we deserve what we tolerate.

Accepting the culture of dependence as a constant burden should not be tolerated. Changing it to a culture of self-reliance is a worthy long-term goal. We can start the process by demanding more leadership from our local elected representatives and expecting more from our fellow citizens.

Ken Gorrell is an insurance agent in Northfield.