Were they not so frightening, the people behind Michael Lunsford’s Citizens for a New Louisiana would be almost comic in their efforts to stymie our basic freedoms.
Almost.
But they’re not, you see, because like their co-conspirators at the national level, the objective of the Repugnantcan Party is to strip us of our right of expression, our right of association, our right to read what we choose, and our right to watch which movies and television shows.
Extreme? Alarmist? Scaremongering? Call it what you wish but tread carefully before you call it specious hogwash. It was no less a personage than Henry Kissinger who said even paranoid people have real enemies.
The Supreme Court, now so heavily weighted to the right, has already struck down two important, long-standing fundamental rights: women’s right to control their own bodies and the rights of those convicted of crimes to APPEAL THEIR CONVICTIONS on the basis of poor legal representation, a ruling that removes the final safeguard against wrongful convictions and executions of innocent people.
Justice Clarence Thomas has hinted that the court may well also take a second look at same-sex marriage, voting rights, and even something as personal as contraception. Thomas himself could also be affected should the court take under consideration interracial marriage (then again, he may see it as an opportunity to rid himself of wife Ginny).
Sens. Rick Scott and Lindsey Graham have also intimated that the sharp reduction or perhaps even the elimination of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.
Likely to remain undisturbed, however, are laws THAT ALLOW GIRLS TO MARRY at ages at young as 12 in Massachusetts; 13 in New Hampshire; 14 in North Carolina; 15 in Hawaii, Kansas, Maryland, Mississippi, and Utah – all with parental consent and some with judicial consent. In all, 32 states and the District of Columbia generally have established 16 as the minimum age for marriage for females.
That is, or course, because women have long been considered chattel property in this country. Women weren’t even given the right to vote until 1920 when the 19th Amendment was ratified. And if you don’t think I’m right consider that the national GENDER PAY GAP shows that men earn between 18 percent and 19 percent more than their women counterparts in similar positions.
Of 50 states and the District of Columbia, Louisiana ranks 49th, just ahead of Utah and Wyoming, with a pay gap of 27 percent. A male’s average pay in Louisiana is $55,428 compared to $40,442.
So now, we have Michael Lunsford and his Citizens for a New Louisiana setting its agenda for combatting any tax issue, censoring the content offered by libraries and generally dictating other facets of our lives.
In its mission statement posted on its Web page, Citizens for a New Louisiana ostensibly advocate for transparency. But its been difficult to learn who the non-profit’s financial angels are because by law, they’re not required to divulge that. Nice. Transparency in everything except where they get their money.
We do know that one of his backers is a property management executive named Will Mills, III. Mills doesn’t just support Citizens for a New Louisiana, however. He has poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into various political campaigns, including $78,500 to the Repugnantcan Party of Louisiana, $9,500 to Public Service Commissioner Mike Francis, and $7,500 to Attorney General Jeff Landry who has participated in a spate of lawsuits ranging from environmental issues to overturning the 2020 presidential election. He even sued a reporter over the reporter’s audacity to request public records.
They preach transparency on the part of others but exempt themselves.
And make no mistake, they’re coming after every library in the state. They have only contempt for the First Amendment while holding the Second Amendment up as a sacred right. They want it both ways and the next logical step (as already articulated by this group) is public school curricula.
As already articulated by former Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, the goal of the Repugnantcan Party is to gut public education and replace it with a system of private and charter schools so that they may set their own curricula that will exclude mentions of the Civil War, the struggle for civil rights, gender equality and anything else they find “objectionable.”
This struggle over library books is just the first shot across the bow of individual rights, folks. Get ready. This is for the long term.
Below is the mission statement of Citizens for a New Louisiana lifted from their Web page:
MISSION
Fostering prosperity in Louisiana’s overall economy by simplifying complex issues, promoting TRANSPARENCY in LOCAL GOVERNMENT, and providing sound public policy insights based on thorough research and conservative principals.
principal
prĭn′sə-pəl
adjective
- First or highest in rank or importance. synonym: chief.
- Of, relating to, or being financial principal, or a principal in a financial transaction.
principle
prĭn′sə-pəl
noun
- A basic truth, law, or assumption.
- A rule or standard, especially of good behavior.
- The collectivity of moral or ethical standards or judgments.
Michael Lunsford, who also named the wrong school in Livingston Parish, might wish to visit a library to take a look at a dictionary to learn the proper usage of the word principle.
(Full disclosure: I am the last one to poke fun at incorrect usage of words. I’ve done so myself, but I just couldn’t resist puncturing the ego of someone of such self-importance as Lunsford.)
What about these folk?: https://www.laswampwatch.com/post/with-qualifying-for-fall-elections-over-watch-who-funds-candidates
Just wow! It makes one’s head spin at how fast we are becoming the Unraveled States of Gilead 🥺. Republicans have been planning & working towards these power grabs for years. Decent, freedom-loving Americans absolutely MUST meet them head-on with a greater resolve to vote them out. Not yet sure Democrats or Independents have the level of fortitude needed to see it through to completion.
As this and the previous story prove, we are moving dangerously backward at an alarming rate – and not enough of us are stepping up to stop it.
Like Paul Spillman, I hate to sound like a broken record, but we have to VOTE every time we have a chance. Our votes are our only voice.
Yes, we can protest. Yes, we can write expository pieces with clear facts that should be undeniable to anybody sentient. Yes, we can write and call our elected officials. Unfortunately, the only people who will hear us already agree with us. The rest will simply ignore us.
VOTE, people, VOTE.
The third to last paragraph on DeVos reminds me of someone of similar mindset much more relevant now and closer to home who hasn’t gotten anywhere near the attention deserved. Our current state superintendent-a vocal believer in the nationalistic, racist and dangerous idea of “American exceptionalism”-has proudly posted on his Twitter page a video of him ranting to Fox “News” about how Louisiana’s new social studies standards resist “Wokeism” and-get this-are the best in the “greatest nation in the history of the world.”
He also incidentally recently changed the former Office of Equity and Inclusion into the Office of School Choice (mainly charters and vouchers) about a year after its black assistant superintendent Kelli Peterson resigned and released a scathing letter to the media about how in fact not diverse and not inclusive the department has become.
Brumley is a clown, self-promoting hack.
DJT’s greatest accomplishment: Accelerating the dumbing down of the USA. The motto should have been MADA.