States bear burdens

The destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina is too massive to comprehend and too heartbreaking to endure.

As awful as the devastation is in its own right, the problems are compounded because the disaster struck in poor Southern states.

In recent years, the responsibility for basic public welfare has been transferred from the federal government to the states. When Washington cuts unemployment benefits and reduces Medicaid funding, for instance, state treasuries have to make up the shortfall or deal with the local consequences of underserved citizens.

We feel the impact disproportionately in the South, where we have smaller public treasuries, regressive tax structures, less-advanced infrastructure, and higher service costs to dispersed rural populations.

The aftermath of Katrina underscores the pain inflicted by this cruel equation. From recent reductions to the FEMA budget in the New Orleans district, to the unprecendented large-scale diversion of National Guard troops to a foreign conflict, to cuts in federal support for state and local public health and safety agencies -- the burden has been shifted on to the backs of state governments least able to carry it.

Our society is rapidly becoming one that turns its back on the least among us, preserving wealth for a privileged few and allowing the disadvantaged to drown in a rising tide of increasing and inescapable difficulty.