In the Katrina disaster, who abandoned whom?

O. Benjamin Sparks, interim editor of The Presbyterian Outlook, posted an interesting defense of the role of government in the Katrina disaster. His editorial, Abandoned people, principles suggested the disaster should cause us to put an end to "the anti-government rhetoric in which our culture has been awash in recent decades."

He writes, "We are responsible for one another, and government -- not the voluntary sector -- is our first defense against anarchy." This is interesting, since it was government, not the voluntary sector, that left dozens -- perhaps hundreds -- of buses idle on the parking lot when they could have been used to evacuate the needy. And it was government, not the voluntary sector, that scaled back levee maintenance, diverting millions into pork barrel projects to benefit well-connected interest groups. And it was officials in the government, not the voluntary sector, that passed the buck at most every opportunity, inventing tragic tales of nursing home suffering to make sure people knew just whom (else) to blame.

Government dumped people in the Superdome without first making sure there were adequate stocks of food and water, leaving people to fend for themselves. The voluntary sector mobilised to make sure people were warmly and humanely welcomed to the Astrodome.

It is true, "To respond to such devastation, we do not rely alone upon the good and kind hearts of the American people." Yes, we rely upon police and armed forces to preserve order. Yes, we rely upon firefighters and EMS workers in the disaster scene. But kindness and mercy and compassion and walking humbly and faithfully before God are not job descriptions for civil service positions. It is a voluntary response when a person sees needs and hears the call of God. It's not the job of the government. It's the job of the citizens.