In a discussion of Hurricane Katrina:
I'll agree that there was major malfunctining at the local and state level of government in many places (let's not forget Katrina has directly effected 3 states here) but the Federal government should forget for one moment that large chunks of power has been restored to the states and that they [b]should[/b] be able to handle this type of emergency. The fact is that it is blatently obvious that is isnt happening, that it wasnt ggoing to happen, and that they need and have needed help. Also, I read an article in the Wallstreet Journal that described how some states have set up very nice refugee programs that are not being used by the victims. This is only one piece of proof that this has reached a national level. Every state is organizing relief efforts but some of them are bearing no fruit. I believe it was Idaho, spent millions turning their state fair grounds into a refugee camp and not one single person has shown up. Is that a waste of effort or what? I know it's fun to throw out the "what if"s and "should've"s but: The federal government, if it had managed these type of things as it should, could have stepped in, explained the inherant problems with Idaho's plan, and put the offered aide to better use.