BCT Editorial – 9/14/05

This page was last updated on September 17, 2005.

After the shock; Editorial; Beaver County Times; September 14, 2005.

This is another sad editorial. It puts the U.S. on the same footing as the former USSR.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject editorial.

“Was the immediate response to the Hurricane Katrina catastrophe a portent or an aberration?

“It matters.

“Think back to Dec. 7, 1988, and the earthquake that hit Armenia in the Soviet Union. About 25,000 people were killed, 15,000 were injured and some 517,000 people were left homeless. Virtually the entire infrastructure - roads, bridges, hospitals, schools, water lines, etc. - was wiped out.

“The tremor and its aftershocks did more than reveal shoddy construction standards. It also revealed the total inadequacy of government in the Soviet Union at all levels to deal with a large-scale domestic emergency. It showed to the world the overwhelmed Soviet Union for what it was - a hollowed-out superpower that could not provide aid and comfort to its people in their time of need.”

[RWC] Where should I begin?

First, the USSR was an inadequate government from its inception. The USSR was never competent at doing anything except building weapons and killings its citizens.

Second, why would the USSR care anything about its citizens? The USSR killed tens of millions of its citizens intentionally under Stalin and others; why would it worry about casualties from a natural disaster?

Third, the USSR was not “hollowed out.” It always was an illusion, an illusion often pushed by much of the U.S. news media. The USSR was never a real superpower in anything other than weapons. Its economy was a perpetual disaster, it couldn’t feed itself, and its citizens – except Communist Party officials – lived in horrible conditions.

“In the coming days, weeks and months, local, state and federal authorities in the United States will have a chance to reverse their dismal performance immediately before and after Katrina devastated Louisiana and Mississippi.”

[RWC] Is there a change of opinion at the Times? According to “America’s disgrace,” the feds were solely responsible for any problems.

“Most of the effort must fall on the shoulders of the federal government, if for no other reason than those two states are among the poorest in the United States.”

[RWC] Why should Louisiana need federal assistance? Democrats have controlled it and New Orleans “forever.” As a result, shouldn’t Louisiana be a utopia with a dynamic economy?

“How this task - indeed, if this task - is accomplished will make a difference. What happened in the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic in December 1988 was a portent of things to come for one of the world’s two superpowers. It was rotting from the inside out.”

[RWC] Talk about a nostalgic view of the USSR! The USSR didn’t rot “from the inside out” because it was rotten through and through from day one. Perhaps the editorial board will tell us when the USSR wasn’t rotten.

“Americans can only hope that the initial, bungled response to the Katrina catastrophe was an aberration, and that our nation’s can-do, take-charge attitude will reassert itself.

“But if recovery efforts continue to be bungled, it could be a portent of things to come.

“Like we said, it matters.”

[RWC] If the author had been paying attention, he would have seen that even with mistakes “that our nation’s can-do, take-charge attitude” asserted itself long ago.