Three weeks ago, headlines rocketed around the world that a federal judge had faulted the Army Corps of Engineers for much of the horrific flooding during Katrina.

This matters to all of us, because the same agency that bungled in New Orleans is responsible for most of the important water projects in this country.

And that’s important because the majority of the nation’s population lives in counties protected by levees.

TIME reporter Mike Grunwald, who recently grumbled to me over the phone that he had “wasted much of his career” banging his spoon on his high chair about the Corps’ culpability and incompetence, summed up why folks outside New Orleans should care about the ruling.

But unlike Grunwald, who sounds quite pessimistic in his TIME piece, I am very hopeful. I believe change is not only imminent, but coming soon.

Click here for the TIME piece by Mike Grunwald.