The federal government’s slow response in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the resultant avoidable misery and loss of life is the product of more than just the incompetence of the Bush administration. It is also the result of an ideology that has been gaining control over our country for the last 25 years and which is the foundation of the current administration.

The basis of this ideology is that so-called big government is the enemy (unless it is needed to enforce the right-wing cultural agenda or to further the interests of big business). Its goal is to overturn the idea, established by the New Deal, that the federal government can play a positive role in solving the problems that we face as people and as a nation. The means for implementing this ideology include ill-advised tax cuts that starve programs of needed funding, bureaucratic reshuffling to decrease effectiveness and simple cronyism, all of which are on display in today’s Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Yes, there are things that can be done better by private enterprise, and there are governmental functions that are better left to state and local governments. But there are also roles that are best served by the federal government, including response to a disaster, be it the result of a human act or an act of nature.

Americans bought the ideological malarkey that hindered our ability to respond quickly to this disaster, and now we are paying the price. Or at least, some of us are.

Stephan G. Myers, Auburn

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