You can blame politicians for New Orleans all you like. I know I certainly will, starting right up at the top. But we just had a nationwide election and it turned on issues that were as inconsequential as they were passionately argued. President Bush is in office today because a bunch of voters in Ohio don’t like homosexuals very much. Members of Congress are enjoying another few years of decent salaries and preferred parking because they brought home the bacon to fill potholes and build sports stadiums.
And we, the people, keep putting them back in office because its easier to do that than it is to pay attention. I know people who can’t name their own Senators but can expound at insane length and in appalling detail about UFOs. There are tens of millions of American’s who’ve never set foot in a polling place. Our media, which exist entirely to give us what we want, spend more energy on Paris Hilton than they do on the very real possibility that New Orleans might disappear one day.
And here we are.