The Albuquerque blizzard of 2006 was not a blizzard. It was a few inches of snow.
That being said, it caused a lot of trouble, including highway closings, a shortage of potatoes at Flying Star and multiple power outages. The state spent pretty much its entire road budget for the year in about three days.
Keep in mind, this was what many places refer to as "some snow."
Imagine if Albuquerque were hit by a hurricane. Something like Katrina, let's say. How well do you think we'd do?
This is not to say the city doesn't deserve some thanks. Many people put in countless hours of difficult work to make sure we didn't collapse into anarchy. They did everything in their power to help out. But the heap of frozen water on the ground was a formidable foe, and everybody came out with their bruises, I'm sure.
Our cute little blizzard, coupled with situations like Hurricane Katrina and our wars overseas, can teach us some lessons - mainly, that the U.S. is not the all-powerful, worry-free land of abundance and efficiency that some of us grew up fantasizing about.
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When it comes down to it, the power of nature is more powerful than any backed-up, corrupt bureaucracy, whether or not it's democratically elected. Our expensive, sophisticated weapons can't suppress the insurgency in Iraq or the resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan. Our benevolent government, more than a year later, still hasn't come through on promises made to thousands of Katrina victims.
Even our national legislature is having trouble passing an effective new ethics bill. You would think that would be easy - just close some loopholes in the campaign finance system, put a leash on lobbyists and their pseudo-bribes and create a system to provide honest oversight, right? Well, it's not that easy.
By now, we all should have figured out that if we want things to change, if we want our country to deal with its problems, if we want to live in a country where we really help each other, then the responsibility is our own. Our system of self-government doesn't run itself, and it never will. Only a concerned citizenry that is willing to work and care for itself - in time of need as well as in time of ease - can create a better country.
Joe Buffaloe
Opinion editor
