The devastation of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita has ripped off America's mask of wealth and overachievement, suddenly revealing the real problems of poverty and powerlessness. In Paul Krugman's September 19 editorial, "Tragedy in Black & White," he attributes to racism the lack of universal healthcare, a livable minimum wage and a greater sense of American social responsibility. Historically, race has played an undeniable role. To me, though, the more subtle, fundamental influence on American attitudes toward race and the poor have a religious source-the dour, austere, rather loony doctrines of John Calvin.

Playing a leading role during the Reformation, Calvin, a 16th century Swiss lawyer and religious reformer, supported social organization as an expression of Biblical rectitude. Calvinist doctrine filtered through the generations, from the Puritans to the present, until it has become thoroughly internalized--hardwired into American character as "the way things are." I leave aside the positive impact of some of Calvin's theories in order focus on the American tendency to combine charity and punishment-because, although Calvinist sects are on the wane, his peculiar, and peculiarly harsh ideas about Christianity and morality continue to flourish and inform American culture. For example, Calvin's morally bankrupt, but economically convenient spin on predestination has had, in my opinion, a far stronger influence on American attitudes toward the poor, women, minorities and the social contract than racism alone.

Although he not invent the concept of predestination, Calvin did manage to merge it (incorrectly) with Christianity. (Goodbye, Jesus' teachings of compassion and turning the other cheek--hello, fire and brimstone.) Calvin's version of predestination, in a nutshell, is that God has already written history, and has chosen, pre-birth, those whom he will save--the Elect--and those whom he will not. The Elect, having been born into God's grace, are free to run society as they see fit, presumably as long as they organize their activities according to the gospel, at least nominally. As Calvinist sects evolved in this country, one defining sign of God's blessing on the Elect became prosperity and social standing, a belief still to be seen at work in American megachurches and their theology of wealth.

On the other hand, the only hope of salvation among the non-Elect is first, of course, to choose Jesus as their savior, and then to atone for one's own human condition-the condition of not having been chosen by God before they were born. Not surprisingly, the non-Elect were usually among the poorest citizens. Therefore, Calvinist attitudes continue to popularize the idea that the best way to "save" someone is to mix charity and punishment--the better to make them see the error of their ways and bootstrap their way into God's grace. In the US Calvin's doctrines coalesced in a sort of Protestant unified field theory known as Manifest Destiny-an idea that unquestionably expanded America into the powerhouse it has become, while simultaneously providing the rationale for steamrolling the non-Elect. The sorry history US westward expansion, its war against the American Indian, not to mention America's reliance on the slave trade, could easily be justified-even celebrated-in the Calvinist mindset. Throughout history, many countries relied on slavery, and many still do today. What distinguished the American version was that it came to define slaves as un-human, un-godly--and specifically linked color and slavery as a "good" for the enslaved, and a necessary, God-given "burden" of the white race.

Comprehending Calvin can help us understand the schizoid nature of US social policies toward the tens of millions of Americans who are uninsured, are unable to "get ahead" despite working multiple jobs, the deliberate lack of protection for the minimum wage, a concept of national healthcare that amounts to "don't get sick," and the righteous intonations dominating the growing discussion of race and poverty. There's a certain suspicion of the haves toward have-nots that leads to a righteous pennypinching toward our fellow citizens. It's the attitude that the working poor and poor are inherently not to be trusted to run their own lives, and, as "proof" that, if this were not the case, "they" would not be in the position they are in

Unfortunately, the habitual tendency of the media and politicians to equate African-Americans with poverty while refusing to acknowledge that tens of millions of other Americans are also living precariously around the poverty line can only fan the flames of white resentment-a situation the extreme right has exploited gleefully for the last 25 years. I'm concerned that editorials like Mr. Krugman's, while well-intentioned, will only serve to shut down a full discussion of poverty in America.

The Big Easy Bucks

It doesn’t take much prescience to foresee that the reconstruction of New Orleans will be a pork barrel free-for-all, if it is not already so. I am waiting for much of downtown NO, specifically small residences and businesses, to be condemned by the state under eminent domain, triggering a massive land grab for business - voila, Disney New Orleans! – Nor is it necessary to be a psychic to foresee the corporate/theme park reincarnation of the city and its forceable “improvement” (i.e., made safe for tourism) by removing pesky, aesthetically unpleasing, behaviorally unpredicticable poor local folk to Habitat for Humanity-style boxes a safe distance away from the business of creating a simulacrum of the city whose peculiar charm and character they helped form. After all, much of New York’s Time Square area underwent a similar transformation in the 90s—one of the primary architects of which was…Disney!