One of the (very few) bright linings in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina is that it clearly illustrates one of the real differences between the governing philosophy of the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. Much of what we see on this site as a series of mistakes and breakdowns is actually seen as evidence of success by
38% of Americans. There's a basic idealogical reason for this.
I know many of you already "get" this, but it isn't something that's discussed much, so it makes sense to talk it up a bit. One of the basic differences between Democrats and Republicans is that we believe in a proactive system and they believe in a reactive system.
Democrats believe (correctly, in my book) that we should elect leaders who will equitably tax income such that we can plan for the future, protect ourselves from disasters and then fix any problems that occur. We're for one-stop shopping, instead of the nickel-and-diming of filling a charity bucket after a disaster. It's smoother that way and ideally it doesn't leave any holes in the safety net.
We believe that if we devise a system (which we we did, under Roosevelt and secured under Kennedy and Johnson) that taxes on a realistic curve and spend that tax money to improve infrastucture (both physical and educational), we won't have to spend nearly as much money and angst when the inevitable disaster (or war) occurs. In the long run this is a cheaper way of doing business as a nation, but it requires the realization that there WILL in fact be disasters, natural and otherwise, that we must prepare for.
The Republican ideology is exactly the opposite. In their system, the individual knows best how to allocate his or her own resources and the widely misunderstood "invisible hand" of the ever-elusive truly free market economy will make sure that everything falls into place. Which is not to mock that belief -- enlightened self-interest can be a powerful force for good.
Under that system, if rebuilding the levees is a project that will best meet the public good, market forces would push private entities to pool their resources to make it happen. Evacuation plans, relief, etc. will take care of themselves when the market makes a place for them. Purely ideological Republicans believe the Federal government only needs to provide resources when some form of prior government interference has caused a breakdown in the system. In other words, they can blame "liberal" government actions for all the problems in New Orleans right now with a straight face.
And now that the private sector has kicked charitable giving into high gear, the Republicans feel vindicated. See, we're all pitching in to help these people, so there was no reason for FEMA or DHS to jump the gun. The invisible hand is taking care of the problem, as far as they are concerned. And they believe the Feds had no business becoming a part of the scenario UNTIL the local and state resources were fully drained and broken down. So in the Republican ideology, the system has worked exactly the way they designed it, and that 38% or so really, honestly doesn't see the problem here.
** It's important to point out that both parties deviate from pure ideology pretty regularly, which explains why companies like Halliburton continue to exist. In a perfect Democratic world, all the "privatized" services companies like Halliburton provide would remain government services (and probably be less expensive) and in a perfect Republican world the Feds wouldn't be handing out multi-billion dollar contracts at all, because those services would rise or fall with the direction of the market.