Let the battle for the soul of Louisiana begin, with the 2005 First Extraordinary Session of the Legislature.
On one side, you have those that perceive the opportunity to break the state from its past populist, good-old-girl government represented by Gov. Kathleen Blanco and a large swath of Democrats, plus a few Republicans, in the Legislature. They see government as the main engine of economic growth and manifest this by arguing for more taxes to support greater-than-necessary spending and are reluctant to change past wasteful spending habits. To them, government is a tool designed to redistribute the people’s resources in the manner they deem appropriate, primarily as an avenue to promote political careers.
On the other, you have progressive reformers that want to minimize the resources government takes from the people, mostly Republican legislators but with a few Democrats thrown in. To them, government is an institution to facilitate the ability of individuals to pursue their own ends using their own resources with as little interference as possible, which in the aggregate makes all better off.
The hurricane disasters have created the conditions that can wake up the electorate to the follies of current regime, by putting the state in the position where the saner approach of its opponents now seems more compelling. The dire necessities of the state invites the questioning of long-held ideological maxims, with the shortcomings of the current regime now much more clearly magnified. With the impact more than ever directly affecting the people, the opportunity is there for many to be receptive to education on the stark choices between these two worldviews, giving the opposition a chance to set the foundation to enact its policy preferences for years to come.
On some fronts, they already are winning. Orleans Parish schools have been in crisis years before the disasters, so it doesn’t surprise that the session’s call contains necessary dramatic action already has been contemplated by loosening local control of Orleans education, and even government control, of these schools.
On other fronts, a fight looms. One such titanic struggle ahead features the philosophy of priorities and prudence in spending versus the establishment’s free-spending with politics rather than need as the primary requisite. Thus, Senate President Don Hines argues that the state can control its gaping deficit, at least temporarily, by amending the Constitution to take monies that should go to the Budget Stabilization Fund to spend, and then to drain the Fund entirely. And he illustrates his ideology perfectly when he acknowledges the role of the people in the process, fretting that “We have 290,000 voters displaced. We are going to have to figure out a way to hold those votes.”
Translation: “A disproportionate number of people who would have gone along with our antiquated ways have left the state. We have to figure out some way to enable them to provide us the strength to continue our agenda based on failed ideas.”
Indeed. Considering that potentially even larger deficits loom on the horizon, bypassing present constitutional protections reeks of imprudency. Instead, there are changes and cuts that can be made right now that will reduce the problem. Two examples are changing policy regarding long-term health care through alterations of reimbursement rates to nursing homes to bring them to national norms and substituting home-based care of nursing home care, and by ridding the state of the Urban and Rural (slush) Funds. On an annual basis, these would save more than half the amount that Hines would want redirected from the fund to current spending. But don’t hold your breath waiting on Hines or any other Democrat legislative leader to suggest these things.
(And if legislators yelp about eliminating the funds, which are used to pay for projects in their districts at the discretion of the governor, she could get them to redirect funds from the Louisiana Agricultural Financial Authority and/or Agriculture Commissioner Bob Odom’s sugar mill for their use – seems the need for that pretty much has been superseded by the planned opening of a new plant by the private sector backed by many of the same co-ops who would have benefited from the state’s largesse.)
As such, it can be argued that, as important as the special session will be to get the state through rough budgetary times ahead, historically it may have greater importance as the watershed event that finally turned Louisiana into a modern state whose government truly matured into putting the people first.
No comments:
Post a Comment