Writer Pam Meister says we should remember President Kennedy’s clever words in 1961 about serving your country. Well, I served my country, and more than once. And I did not ask what my country could do for me. My problem is that my government is irresponsible. It visits horrible wrongs on people, then walks away. My home and my neighbors’ home were destroyed when the federal floodwall catastrophically failed in Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. Up to five nearby neighbors died. But the federal government refused to take responsibility for the wreckage to our lives and memories. Now, old and ill, my wife and I will probably never be able to live in our own home. We worked hard to buy it. And then the government’s scheme–after a high-ranking official said his agency “took responsibility”–was to wage legal war against people with losses. And to win a judge’s decision that the government had no obligation to make good. This was based on a technicality.
