The states I call Pottersville and West Pottersville are dieing, destroyed by a toxic mix of racism, greed, and one terrible storm.
Democrats were dismayed this year when idiot New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and corrupt Rep. William Jefferson were both re-elected, after making explicit tribal calls to their supporters. Jefferson’s was the most blatant, essentially painting black opponent Karen Carter as the "white" candidate, changing his positions on social issues into those of cruelty against "the other," and basically acting more like a Somali warlord than a U.S. Congressman.
Meanwhile, in Mississippi, Republicans are cruising for many of the same reasons. Most Mississippians are white, and this trumps everything else, in a state that is 35% black. But where the racial roles are reversed, as in the state capitol of Jackson, the governing is actually worse.
The reason for all this is our collective failure to respond
adequately to Hurricand Katrina. In the wake of this failure the best
people, and the middle class, have fled these areas, leaving behind the
lazy, the criminal, the bigoted, and the victims.
This, I believe, is the most important story of 2006, because it’s a
story that is bound to be repeated. Our failure to provide adequately
for storms, our refusal to acknowledge our responsibility for global
warming, our own criminal negligence as fat, lazy Americans means this
will happen again. And again. And again.
Next time it might be Florida, with DisneyWorld never rebuilt or
Miami left as a true Third World country (not the Spanish-speaking
melting pot of today). Or it might hit the Carolinas, destroying the
great city of Charleston and (who knows) taking Savannah, Georgia with
it? Do we have to wait until a Cat 5 storm hits New York City and
leaves Wall Street under 20 feet of water for a week or two?
I will repeat. An Inconvenient Truth was not just a movie. It is a preview of coming attractions. Based on our reaction to this one storm, we are not ready.
That has to change, or Somalia’s future will be our own.
