The issue: Waste in government.
We suggest: Let�s do better.
Although our state sometimes suffers from the lingering stain of past political scandal, we can�t help pointing out that our leaders haven�t done any worse than case after case within the federal bureaucracy.
From FEMA�s delayed and ineffectual immediate response to Hurricane Katrina to the most recent reports of wasteful spending within that agency, the people at the highest levels of disaster response have shown that the temptation for corruption is not a uniquely Louisianan trait.
We don�t point this out for the sake of disparaging the many good people who are doing the best they can to help our region recover and rebuild from the ferocious storms of 2005.
Rather, out of fairness, we must cite these cases and state that the most-egregious offenses during the period since the storms have often involved federal -- not state -- officials.
That�s not to say we�ve been pure. Far from it.
We�ve had our own scandals that involved incomprehensible delays in our Road Home program, terrible mismanagement of the state-run insurer of last resort and a steady stream of corruption cases and allegations.
But the scandal has not been Louisiana�s alone.
Confirmation of that has been the ongoing investigations into and criticisms about the FEMA trailer fiasco.
Thousands of families who two and a half years after the storms still resided in the FEMA trailers were recently moved out after the federal agency finally acknowledged the potential dangers posed by formaldehyde fumes in the temporary homes.
Critics of FEMA have seized the issue, and there will be a continuing stream of complaints by the people who have had to live in the trailers.
The trailers themselves, though, aren�t so much the issue as a very visible symptom.
The problem is that FEMA and the rest of the federal government had no viable plan in place for large-scale, long-term housing even though there have long been reports suggesting that a situation like that caused by Katrina could occur.
Still, when the storm did happen, the feds seemed shell-shocked and absolutely unable to deal with the immense situation.
The nation watched nightly and around the clock as federal agencies slowly worked to free the thousands stuck in makeshift shelters in New Orleans.
We write with regularity about our state�s need for reform, particularly in terms of its ethics regulations. And we stand behind that conviction.
We argued with many that the state needed most of the reforms recently passed in the state Legislature�s special session on ethics.
And we have long argued that perceptions about our state�s political shenanigans hold us back from some of the help we might otherwise receive.
But we also must point out that the federal agencies have their own shortcomings, based on personal or institutional failings.
We hope Louisiana will eventually overcome the challenges it faces both at home and in Washington, D.C.
If it does, though, the greatest lesson we can take from it will be teaching emergency officials how not to approach future disasters.