It’s no surprise that the government botched the largest natural disaster in American history – Hurricane Katrina. Why? Because cronyism is the way the Bush government operates. President Clinton did not get everything right, but his overhaul of the Federal Emergency Management Agency created a government department known for its efficiency and professionalism. Enter the Bush administration. It installed friends and political hacks such as Michael Brown. The rest is tragic history.

The tragedy reaches further. The reconstruction in Iraq has been a failure, according to even the military’s estimates. Billions have been spent and no health infrastructure has been rebuilt. Electricity and water supplies are still below pre-war levels. Worse, security continues to deteriorate. Meanwhile, Halliburton and Kellogg Brown & Root have a field day as defense and reconstruction contracts are handed out, not on the basis of competitive bidding, but on the basis of a no-insider-left-behind philosophy.

Even the National Security Agency and CIA have become private propaganda mills for this administration. President Bush and Vice President Cheney made it clear what information they wanted brought forward, and a deceit-based war has been the result.

The president’s budget is more of the same. He maintains tax cuts for the wealthy by cutting Medicare and Medicaid, educational spending, the Environmental Protection Agency, and benefits for veterans.

A familiar conservative refrain is that “government governs best that governs least.” For those of us who need a government that works, it can’t get worse.

Steve Bien, Jay