The Saints beat Atlanta 23 to 3 tonight in what was a fitting return to the Superdome in New Orleans. Just over one year ago, it was sheltering over 10,000 New Orleans residents during and in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
I have to confess that I didn't get to see the game tonight. I got home from school as the 4th quarter was starting and followed it on ESPN.com. Despite the fact they were playing against my fellow Hokie, Michael Vick, I was rooting for the Saints all the way! It seems very fitting for them to win a big victory tonight. After Katrina, it is something the city of New Orleans badly needed.Earlier today, my friend, Catherine, wrote about her thoughts on tonight's game:
Catherine's post gives an excellent reminder that there are still many people whose lives have been inalterably affected by Katrina. Many people are still displaced and many are still working to help repair the infrastructure and heal the lives of those impacted by the storm. They could all use our prayers and support.
Just a little over a year ago, 25,000 men and women crammed into the Superdome to escape one of the worst natural disasters this country has seen. Tonight the Superdome will host the Saints and the Falcons in a game that signals a return of hope and some small semblance of normalcy to New Orleans.
But when the Saints come marching in to the Superdome tonight, I won't be able to help but think of and pray for the true "saints" I know who have shown persevering love in helping to rebuild shattered lives and communities in hurricane-ravaged areas. Last Thanksgiving, I spent a week with some of those Saints from Desire Street Ministries, gutting ruined homes, sweeping and shoveling debris, and otherwise picking up just a few pieces of the desolation that will take years, if not decades from which to recover. You can read a little bit about that experience here, where I talk about what it means to miss New Orleans, borrowing Louis Armstrong's phrase.
The point of the post. First of all, pray for my friends at Desire Street (true saints) and so many others like them who have continued to persevere and serve in the face of disaster. (And if you can give to help support them, even better! I'm sure they'd be grateful.) Second, pray for those like my friend Tonya in Houston, who are continuing to serve the displaced in cities across this country. Pray (Gal. 6:9) that they would not become weary in doing good, but that God would encourage their hearts that in due season they will reap a harvest if they do not give up.
As I mentioned in a previous post, we've been studying Hurricane Katrina this semester at the Mercatus Center. We have been discussing the effects of private vs. government decision making before, during, and after the storm, debating the optimal role for government in disaster relief, and looking into how the unfavorable business environment and political corruption of New Orleans has been hindering the rebuilding of the city. Our goal is to learn from what went on in the hopes of influencing policy towards more effective response to disaster relief.
Along these lines, I just started research last week for a paper for my Public Choice class comparing the political institutions of Florida and Louisiana to examine how political decision-making rules and institutions in Louisiana may have generated very perverse outcomes and slowed disaster relief in response to Katrina. (In contrast, Florida seems to have a very good track-record for response to hurricanes.) I'll continue to blog on this as I learn more.
Read more about the work the Mercatus Center is involved in related to Katrina.
1 comment:
Something tells me there’s a little more to the story than “Republicans = Good” and “Democrats=Bad”. For example, Florida has historically been incredibly Democratic. Twenty nine of the past thirty-two governors of Florida (five of the past seven) have been Democrats. Murphy Foster, Jr. was the Republican governor of Louisiana for 8 years from 1996 to 2004, during which time, he apparently didn’t fix the problems of Louisiana’s lack of preparedness for disaster relief during crisis.
Also, there were many failures during Katrina at the Federal level which has been under Republican control since 2000. FEMA in particular, run by Bush appointees, had extreme failures on many levels. They had huge coordination failures and very poor judgment in many areas.
I don’t think the story is a Republican/Democrat story, but one of differing legal and political structures. Some of the real heroes of Katrina include the US Coast Guard and Wal-Mart. Part of why these organizations were so effective is because they were able to effectively make use of knowledge about local conditions and terrain to rescue people and get needed supplies to people.
I think the main story is one of the effectiveness of decentralized vs. centralized decision-making. My guess is that Florida’s political and legal systems interfere far less in individual actions than those of Louisiana.
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