Op-ed: America fails its poor (again)

The images of impoverished, desperate and largely African-American people roaming the streets of ghost-towns, collected on rooftops, gathered inside and outside of stadiums, ravaging stores for food and water, and looting unnecessary items is a tragic sight. It is but another instance of our government's failure to address the needs of poor Americans.

Whereas nearly all those of means escaped to friends, family, and hotels via their own automobiles or rental cars, those left behind had little with which to help them escape. They were stuck depending on a government that is supposed to be the envy of the world. A government with nearly limitless resources. A government that spends over $2 trillion each year.

We're well aware that the Bush Administration has been dismantling FEMA since 9/11. We know by now that our environmental policies have been endangering parts of the Gulf Coast for decades.

But few people know that those most devastated by the hurricane and its aftermath are victims of another quiet tragedy that attacks more Americans every day. These are the victims of a poverty rate that continues to rise, a health care system that falls short, and an "economic recovery" that leaves them, and most other Americans, behind. And for those just above the poverty line, many states are cutting the few supports that prop them up in our society.

Now, in their greatest hour of need, our government has failed them once again. Some will blame President Bush for not investing enough in emergency preparedness and sending National Guard troops on a mission few of them signed up for. But this is a larger failure that goes beyond the particular ideology of one president or one party. It is a failure of a nation that has largely turned its backs on poor people and scapegoated them for the struggles they are often born into.

Maybe this catastrophe will get Americans and our government to recognize that while we have pacified the poor, we have still failed them. Warehousing poor people in abysmal schools and tightly-packed jails and prisons are not anti-poverty policies.

Mr. Bush, we've seen the conservatism. It's time for the compassion. But we also need to show some compassion of our own.