Louisiana Voice

If some of our Repugnican legislators were not as dumb as a can of hair, they might actually be funny with all their pontificating and posturing.

But the fact is, they’re not funny; they’re just being Trumpian stupid. *

The Repugnicans in the legislature called a special session that convened a week ago to consider restrictions on Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards’s actions to contain the spread of the coronavirus that has killed 210,000 Americans.

It’s not enough that their president insists on walking around maskless, taking mini-motorcade trips around Walter Reed Hospital to wave at worshipful admirers with nothing better to do than gather outside the hospital in some kind of love-in vigil in support of a man who ignored every precaution until he, too, was diagnosed with the virus. He has to rub salt in the wounds of those who have lost loved ones to the virus by calling on Americans not to fear the coronavirus.

In case the Repugnican legislators have not noticed, but a map of the U.S. last week showed a majority of states where COVID-19 cases are on the increase. Among those were Texas, Arkansas and Mississippi. Smack in the middle of those states was one where cases were not on the rise: Louisiana.

But that ain’t good enough for the Repugnicans, dagnabbit. They want their freedom – freedom to go maskless into restaurants, LSU and Saints football games, festivals and, of course, Mardi Gras.

Again, in case they’ve forgotten, Louisiana was at one time the singular hot spot in America for the virus. That time was immediately after Mardi Gras, when visitors from all the nation converged on New Orleans and took the virus back to their homes.

Then came the shutdown. Theaters, stores, stadiums, gymnasiums, restaurants and schools were shut down, some for good. People worked and learned from home.

Except for places like Firehouse Bar-B-Que in Livingston Parish and Life Tabernacle Church in nearby Central, both within a few miles of my home, defied orders of closure or attendance restrictions. Other church ministers railed against the refusal of guvmint to allow the faithful to worship Gawd. Idiots like U.S Rep. Clay Higgins, who probably hasn’t set foot in a house of worship for years, maybe decades, took up the cross in the name of religious principle – and evangelical votes.

They want their freedom. I’m waiting for an insurrection by people who don’t want to wear seat belts because, well, it’s their freedom to feel unrestricted. And it’s just a matter of time before public flashers insist that they should not be required to wear pants. I mean, freedom of restriction is what it’s all about, right?

Our Repugnican legislators, supported by Koch Industries, Karl Rove, ALEC, LABI and Grover Norquist, have taken over control of this state beginning in 2008 when Bobby Jindal, working under the guiding hand of Timmy Teepell, turned state government over to the corporate interests.

Sacrificed at the altar of oil and gas, pharmaceuticals, nursing homes, private prisons, banks and payday lenders were public colleges, health care, public education, teachers, and women in particular – and the middle class in general. Massive corporate tax cuts were passed at the expense of the state budget which spiraled into deficit after deficit under Jindal as benefits were cut or eliminated outright – all at the direction of Norquist, who doesn’t even live in Louisiana.

So, with the state continuing to wallow at or near the bottom of every ranking of things good and at the top of all the bad rankings, the Repugnicans, led by the likes of House Speaker Clay Schexnayder (R-Gonzales) and Senate President Page Cortez (R-Lafayette) want to chip away at the one area at which the state has been successful under the leadership and direction of John Bel Edwards – bringing down the infection rate of COVID-19.

Sounding eerily like the idle boasts of Trump when he speaks of “many people” telling him this and that, Rep. Stephen Dwight (R-Lake Charles) sniffs, “There have been a lot of complaints that we don’t know what is coming down, what the plan is.”

Want to know what their plan is? Here it is, as explained by House Speaker Pro Tem Tanner Magee (R-Houma): “We are on step one of the process. It is wide open right now.”

Wow. Thanks for clearing that up. I certainly feel better now. That’s very much like Trump’s oft-repeated promise that his replacement plan for Obamacare would be revealed “in a couple of weeks.” He first made that promise soon after becoming president in January 2016. We’re still waiting.

Rep. BLAKE MIGUEZ (R-Erath) may have inadvertently provided some keen insight on accountability and transparency as defined Repugnicans when he said the bills being pushed to restrict the governor’s authority drew scant debate because they had already been discussed in private. “We have had a lot of discussions, a lot of meetings of Republicans (he can’t even spell the party’s name correctly) behind the scenes,” he said. “We showed a unified voice out here today that we are going to stick together.”

Well, of course you are. Otherwise, you might get a bad grade from LABI and a bad grade from LABI means fewer corporate campaign contributions, right?

But, hey. That’s government transparency – the gold standard of governmental ethics since January 2008, which just happened to coincide with the beginning of the Jindal era, which, to tell the truth, has never really gone away.

*(Trumpian stupid: unable to think for oneself, willingness, even eagerness, to take cues on behavior, philosophy and leadership from a narcissistic buffoon.)