The Role of Government

The question is a fair one: What is the role of government in an event like Katrina?

Though I am sure that the motives are pure behind the question, I am curious as to its asking. Do we seek to know the role of government in our lives and in the lives of others so that we may find our role? Is knowing what government will do critical to what we do? I will tell you that I am ignorant when it comes to government. Reading the NY Times and listening to NPR certainly does not give me the right to expound very long on America's governmental responsibilities. But, everyone has an opinion and so do I.

Government will do in a crisis more of what government was intended to do when government was first created. It will not find you a job, help you seek shelter or give you a drink of cold water. It will not clothe you, bath you and watch after your family pet. It will never wipe you tears, give you a bear hug and brainstorm ideas with you as to the future. What the government will do - though admittedly, not in all the above examples, is provide an environment suitable for those things to occur. Perhaps make it so it is more likely that those things occur.

The United States Government is the people of these States and this - as the thinking can sometimes go, makes it great. But what if the government takes the place of common sense and replaces it with a bureaucracy that cannot love and will not be caring. The people of New Orleans and Biloxi will rebuild their cities and find hope again. And government will take a traditional role of organization and command. It sends money - billions of dollars to be used in relief efforts dreamed up by people. In these times the government is said to be there for people - or absent as some have suggested.

Then, government gets narrowed further to Bush. The leader of the free world has a burden to carry that I dare not mock. And though "President Bush does not like black people" and other thoughtful statement get spoken when speaking about how government handled the current crisis. We must further evaluate how much government is enough. We control our day to day and do not like Big Brother peeking in on us. But, in times of great need Big Brother and his Billions perhaps aren't quite as evil as we thought. We like to see men with camo and guns when chaos reigns. We welcome the military-industrial machine into our living rooms when they are six feet under water. We demand to be housing, food and water just as the surf once did from the king. Government cannot give us hope or even a levy system that works.

But we would do well to remember that the government is not the Spirit of God working in the hearts of men to bring about his will. We would do well to seek that will inorder to find what we should do and let government worry over itself. But I don't vote and so I do not complain.

What think ye?