Rebuilding New Orleans

Today's Washington Post features a front-page above-the-fold picture of protestors from New Orleans, sponsored by the commies over at ACORN (a fact not mentioned by the paper), demanding more money from the federal government. As the accompanying article states:

The group marched up Independence Avenue, chanting "Where is the money?" and singing "This little neighborhood of mine, I'm gonna let it shine," parting the lunchtime crowd of Capitol Hill staffers.

..."I bought my house in 1981, paid it off by 2003. I put two kids through college. I worked my whole life as a schoolteacher," said Kemberly Samuels, 52, whose home in New Orleans's Ninth Ward was ruined by five feet of standing water. But her time in the Astrodome, then in a church, then in search for a Houston apartment that would take her housing voucher "was the most humiliating time of my life."

Stories such as hers prompted a panel of Democratic members of Congress to respond that they plan to hold the administration accountable for the treatment of the region since Katrina and then Rita hit.

"Really, just to be plain about it, this is a scandal," Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said to a standing ovation.

The crowd, many of them working-class New Orleanians whose families have lived there for generations, thundered when Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) called the lack of progress in rebuilding less-affluent neighborhoods "a policy of ethnic cleansing by inaction."

..."These people here in Washington are going to hear us," said Harvey Bender, 41, who grew up in East New Orleans and lost his job with the City Parks and Recreation Department when it laid off most of its workers because of hurricane damage. "We're American citizens, we pay taxes, and we need a little bit of help from our country now."

The article never explicitly states what it is these people want. As far as I can tell it's money. But what is the justification for the federal government to provide aid? As far as I can tell the rationale -- borrowing a page from Willie Sutton -- is nothing more than, "That's where the money is."

Lately there's been a lot of talk about the need to rebuild New Orleans. Indeed, Mayor Ray Nagin, in what I imagine is mostly a publicity stunt, has appealed to France and Jordan for aid to the city. But, and maybe I'm completely out of my mind here, isn't rebuilding a function of the private sector? Why is it the government's responsibility?

Now, I can see the government chipping in to rebuild infrastructure such as roads and, of course, levees -- but when did it become their job to furnish you a new house? Isn't that what insurance is for? And if we buy into this notion that the government owes you a new house when disaster strikes, where does it end? If lightning strikes my house and it burns down do taxpayers owe me a new one?

Further, even if I were to buy into this ridiculous notion that government should tackle most of the rebuilding, why is this a federal obligation? Where in the Constitution does it provide for such action?

In addition to the aid question, another story here is the continuing unseriousness of leading Democrats. Rep. Pelosi pronounces the treatment of the region to be a "scandal," overlooking the fact that both New Orleans and Louisiana are run by Democrats. And Rep. Frank has the temerity to equate what is occuring with ethnic cleansing (although, in fairness, he may be on to something given Mayor Nagin's stated belief -- which he subsequently apologized for -- that New Orleans should be a "chocolate" city).

What a joke.