Death by small government.

Evan at Alternet

I want you to do something. Every time you hear Grover Norquist's "Americans for Tax Reform," "the Heritage Foundation," and the Bush administration (I suppose I could put them in quotes too) mentioned in the papers, on the radio, on TV, I want you to think about the tragedy in New Orleans.

One of the central principles in their ideology, to "starve the beast," means providing less funding for crucial preparatory projects (such as shoring up the levee and ensuring that adequate disaster response networks are in place), first response, and rebuilding.

Make no mistake: this went down the way it did because of a conscious decision derived from a cruel ideology.