I’ve recently been introduced to this 36 year old powerhouse of a Governor named Bobby Jindal, of Louisiana.  I found it rather remarkable really that a man so young and Republican to boot (more on that in a minute) could spear head such a revitalization effort the likes of which have rarely been seen.  This is not to say that what transpired in New York directly following 9/11 is any less impressive; however the whole of New York wasn’t destroyed; by most accounts 80% of New Orleans and surrounding neighborhoods were.  Businesses fled, buildings crumbled, homes were lost, lives perished.  In the midst of it all was a blame game that began with President Bush and the federal government and ended with the state governor and local mayor.  And although I agree that as the leader of the Free World Bush showed an inability to recognize sooner the incompetence of the liberal machine running Louisiana, blaming him for the catastrophic events that transpired there are ill-founded at best.  Plainly said, the state of affairs leading up to Katrina was not of Bush’s design, taking control of a situation that had zero leadership well, that’s a different story.

I attempted to make this point to a colleague of mine the other day, but he wanted to hear no such thing about it.  He fervently defended the state and local government and subscribed to the notion that the federal government, and more specifically Bush, was to blame for the disaster (excluding the weather).  He illustrated that the US Army Corps of Engineers, by federal mandate as defined in the Flood Control Act of 1965 is solely responsible for levee design, construction, and maintenance.  Because they were unattended for so long and had dilapidated to such a sorry shape; when Katrina struck water was able to pass underneath the levees causing the levee walls to shift which resulted in catastrophic breaching ending in the submerging of 80% of the city.  Fascinated by this history lesson and still intrigued with how a young Republican with so much anti-republican hatred in the air could find himself being elected I decided to dig.  What I came across was staggering; statewide corruptions at all levels of government.

It is prudent to point out that, once the levees were originally built back in the 1960’s the ongoing maintenance of those levees was the inherent responsibility of the local levee board of New Orleans, which was appropriated federal funds by the federal government for said maintenance.  It would seem however, that various Louisiana Political types who are now under indictment for theft and misappropriation of federal funds meant to help with FEMA efforts (post Katrina) are some of the same individuals evidentially responsible for stealing those federal funds appropriated to the levee board.  In fact, for the past 20 years according to recent news reports, the US Taxpayer via the federal government has given free and clear more than $700 million for such maintenance and repairs.  All such work was contracted for at the local level per state law.  What was done with that money?  That’s anyone’s guess; but one cannot responsibly pass total blame to the federal level or to Bush.  

Worthy of note here are the engineering studies and plans which were enacted decades ago that by many accounts now, seem somewhat flawed.  I’m fairly certain, all things considered, that no one in the 1960s set out to design a flawed levee system when this all began. What is more inherently obvious is that the design flaws which were creating an ongoing problem were simply more aggravated by corrupt locally elected representatives who feathered their own beds at the expense of their neighbors.  Considering the long, proud history of political corruption in Louisiana, some of these events are not particularly surprising.  It’s a pity, and I probably should be ashamed for thinking it, but the citizens of Louisiana get the form of government that they deserve. 

Thus leading me to one Governor Jindal; talk about your breath of fresh air.  Never before have I seen someone so young be so astute at fixing the decadence of a city, and really a state, so desperately in need of repair.  He’s gotten his hands dirty and by example, is leading the state back from the perils of destruction.  Houses have been rebuilt, businesses are returning, crime is down immensely, music again fills the air, life is returning to normal; well, perhaps that last one is not so accurate.  Life is returning, but with the lessons of the past still fresh on everyone’s minds, normalcy I think is something no one there wishes to go back to. 

This new state of being, this, ‘Louisiana Way’ is something for all American’s to take note of and help support.  Perhaps a realization will also take hold that, it’s our responsibility to make of things as we want them.  Depending upon others (the government) to support us can hardly enable us the luxury of blaming them when they fail to do so.  Not properly monitoring or rather not caring what our elected political leaders are doing, while accepting their same tired rhetoric with little substance behind it breeds a culture you had in New Orleans and throughout the whole state of Louisiana Pre-Katrina.  Louisianans I’m sure will not fall into that trap again, perhaps another reason the state is predicted to vote for McCain come November.