Denial is Dereliction

While Mark Twain’s warning that the women and children should be locked up and guarded when the legislature is in session is humorous and not without some merit, democracies need their legislatures.

Last week, even while the parties were fighting and feuding, it was a matter of life and death that the Congress perform effectively and it did. It passed two emergency appropriations that will permit the emergency response and rebuilding of New Orleans to proceed. The Congressional role was simple. The members saw it. The Congress succeeded.

While the role of the various levels of government in catastrophes is less clear today than in the happy summer days prior to Katrina, there was virtual unanimity on the view that the federal government had to open its wallet and cover the cost of cleanup and reconstruction. The President asked for the money and the Congress appropriated it. Without that approval, the calamity that faces the nation on the Gulf Coast could have unraveled our entire society.

Does anyone out there disagree to this point? Excellent, I’ll proceed.

Al Qaeda tried to behead the government of the United States. The mad scheme of Osama bin Laden to destroy major symbols of America – The World Trade Center, The Pentagon, and either the White House or the Capitol – failed at a certain level as the president and the Congress survived, and the government was able to respond to the attack.

In retrospect, however, part of that failure by al Qaeda was based on the heroic response of only a few individuals on the plane that went down in Pennsylvania, the great good fortune that Mr. Bush was not in The White House, and the Congress was not gathered in one place at the moment of proposed impact.

When New Orleans was drowned, the Congress had to perform. What if a quorum of one or both Houses, due to terrorist or enemy nation attack, was not available to legislate? Fortunately, that was not the case with Katrina and those of us not working on the rescue and cleanup can continue to enjoy ourselves as the government lives.

But there are people, very bad people, dedicated to undermining the ability of the United States government to perform its duties, and September 11 should have been the ultimate wake up call, but it wasn’t.

In the four years since the attacks by al Qaeda, the federal government has made great strides in physical security of the Capital. Four years of construction assures that those attempting to destroy the Capitol, The White House, the Pentagon, and most other strategic and symbolic points in the Washington area will have a much more difficult time with their diabolical plans. Presidential succession is clear, and it appears that the Executive Branch takes its responsibilities seriously in this vital area.

The Congress, however, has not kept pace. While the buildings and grounds of the Legislative Branch have been hardened and a successful beheading of the government is far less likely, certainty can never be assured. The levees protecting New Orleans would stand up against a Category 3 storm, but there was no guarantee beyond that level and Katrina proved it to be the case. When the disaster occurred, the Congress was called upon to act, and it did.

But again in the case of one or both Houses not being able to legislate, what would happen if Washington or another city was laid as low as New Orleans and there was no way to constitute a working Congress? We just don’t know. And Congress has been derelict in not facing this question that was raised many times in the aftermath of 9/11.

So we had two disasters – 9/11 and Katrina – four years apart and an intact responsive government was required after both, and, by the grace of God, we had it.

Could there not be a category 5 attack on the government and the country? Of course, and we’ve been under warning for four years. But the Congress has diddled and failed to protect us. Denial of the possibility amounts to dereliction of duty. SHAME!

Congress must act to redress this failure!

Blog on!

Wild Bill