After Katrina, a government adrift
Godfrey Hodgson
6 - 9 - 2005
The aftermath of Katrina reveals how sectarian conservative politics have brought disrepair and neglect to the heart of American politics, says Godfrey Hodgson – democratic government must be revived.
It is not just the levees of New Orleans that are weak. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, George Bush’s predicament reveals serious breaches in the way the American government works – weaknesses that result from the domination of sectarian conservative politics in the country’s administration and culture.
It would be nice to think that the conservative ascendancy is the democratic consequence of mass conversion of a majority of the American electorate to conservative shibboleths in law, economics, religion and foreign policy. It would be truer to say that it is the result of a quarter-century of political manipulation by a surprisingly small coterie of conservative activists.