Do La. folks get the politicians they deserve? (Shreveport, Lafayette: appointed, 2015)

[BeenThereDunThat]

This article's premise is based on the old saying: We get the politicians we deserve. And referring to our current Governor: Bobby Jindal, it seems to be the case considering that he got 66% of the vote from voters who chose to ignore his first term.

WE GET WHAT WE VOTE FOR

[rgathrights]

Originally Posted by BeenThereDunThat

... considering that he got 66% of the vote from voters who chose to ignore his first term.

You are trolling.

[BeenThereDunThat]

Originally Posted by rgathrights

You are trolling.

Did you bother to read the article?

[Mwahfromtheheart]

Before reading the article, I'll say that I voted for him in 2007 because I genuinely bought his crap about having this bloated government that needed to be shrank and ethics ... blah blah blah. Oh and Kathleen Blanco .... Jesus... I know she wasn't running but I wanted to go as far away from a Louisiana Democrat as I could at that time. I did NOT vote for him a second time.

Now, let me read the article and get back to you

[Mwahfromtheheart]

Great article. It sums up the last 15 years pretty well doesn't it? And it doesn't even begin to show the butt kissing he did for BP when they destroyed our coast. It still makes me sick to drive over the Paris Bridge and see all of the shipping lanes carved into the marshes that no boats ever go through. Or to look at the spot where the flood walls in the 9th was busted at because some jerk thought it'd be great to build a funnel for storm surge ... I mean the MRGO shipping lane.

Yeah, and since I just had 50 grand in medical bills written off in just the last 7 months or so, Jindals crapenomics scares me too. LSU of NO and Shreveport has quite literally saved my life a couple times. I really, really hope he doesn't decide to try to trash the charity system ENTIRELY in his last hour ....

[BeenThereDunThat]

I didn't vote for Jindal because I remembered what he did when Gov. Mike Foster appointed him to head up La. Dept. of Health & Hospitals. Jindal's first order of business was to cut state funding for nursing homes and health clinics. This put a lot of them out of business in rural areas where they were needed most. Jindal's logic was that poor, elderly sick people could go to regional state medical centers in the cities....but real life doesn't work that way. He closed much-needed clinics to achieve his budget goals. And so with his cuts to funding, many rural areas went without these precious few resources and real live people got hurt. This didn't fix the problems and addressed the needs of the state..this simply eliminated the problem but the problems of healthcare didn't go away. This was just a hint of what Mr. Jindal was all about... Foster mistook Jindal's shrewdness for intelligence in dealing with such matters. Jindal pandering to the ultra conservative folks who think all poor, sick folks are slackers feeding off the gov't teat. All that's needed to solve problems is to close these places down. His preaching the politics of fear, suspicion and social-bias was simply his cashing in on the confirmation / cognitive bias of a very, very ignorant and careless electorate.

People have short memories and often don't pay attention or connect-the-dots when it comes to understanding the systemic nature of governance. People ignorantly think you can run government "like a business" which Jindal has been quick to say in the past. Fact is government isn't a business... government is politics and the very nature of politics is finding working compromise to complex problems. Anyone who thinks otherwise is on the wrong side of history.

I shared this article because it is a succinct observation of how voters put incredible power in the hands of an ideologue whose hubris and ambition for grander schemes has demolished the state's financial standing. As I write this, I recall seeing an article about Moody's warning on Louisiana's financial state Where are all the governor's defenders in our state who took issue with my earlier observations about the crappy situation appearing on Louisiana's horizon months ago? It's as if they have retreated into their communities praying for a conservative second coming of sorts as their prophet has been too busy seeking honor away from home.

Trolling...me? Is that the best anyone can do by way of retort or debate?

We're in deep, deep Kimchi folks. It's going to take one or two terms to clean this mess up and meanwhile it's not going to be pretty, not just for Louisiana's elderly, sick and poor.... it's going to affect everyone up and down the social scale. Maybe there's no new taxes BUT there will be higher tuition costs, education costs, healthcare costs and it will impact everyone thanks to the 66% who cast a vote for Jindal last election. Such is an example of the power of the vote AND of the power of dumb people in large groups.

And looking at the men who might be governor (Vitter, Dardenne, Angelle...all Republicans) it appears at the onset that nothing much will improve from a political perspective. Deep Kimchi indeed.

"Notre état est vissé dans une grande manière !"

[hdwell]

Voted for him on his first term, didn't vote for him on the second one. I could see then the direction he was heading. But I'm not your typical Louisiana voter either.

[Mwahfromtheheart]

That's pretty grim and pretty fair at the same time. I've had debates with friends that literally think there should be 0 public funding for education (including PRIMARY !) and if there weren't taxes for it, everybody would be able to afford it out of their own pockets. What about the kids with disadvantaged / deadbeat families? Well that's moms fault and "they" shouldn't have to pay for it at the butt of a gun!!!

Oh, and of course if there weren't taxes, there would obviously be enough money to go around for people to donate to what the needy, because that's what humans will do - take what they need and somehow get the rest to strangers that need it. In fact, the only function of government to some of these people is to have a military to protect our human rights. The well being of the overall people? Doesn't register to them. Because America was founded on freedom and no taxes. In fact, taxes is why everybody in poverty is in poverty now.

They're so proud of themselves and their accomplishments that they can't believe anybody could legitimately be dealt a bad hand from the start in life, or even be given a little hand up if they fall into an occasional financial struggle. Nothing matters but them and their own. I guarantee their tune would change if one of their loved ones couldn't get to LSU on time from Winnfield or some other nutty out of way town in this state (with it's bastardized roads).

[rgathrights]

You are trolling.

Originally Posted by BeenThereDunThat

Did you bother to read the article?

Revisited the thread today, are there any threads discussing the good Bobby Jindal has done in public office?

In June of last year, Gov. Bobby Jindal signed legislation that increased higher education funding by $40 million, of which nearly $12 million has gone to Louisiana’s Community and Technical Colleges.
Jindal: State to honor $4.5 million pledge to UL-Lafayette’s computing and informatics school

[BeenThereDunThat]

Drops in the bucket when compared to the cuts higher ed has faced under his administration... something like $700 Million. Palliative PR-measures if you ask me when compared to how much bleeding higher ed is undergoing.

He's now asking colleges to cut $300 to $400 million to shore up $1.6 Billion budget shortfall projections.


ULM State Funding -- Drops 53.8%
http://www.ulm.edu/president/documents/fy14_budget_forecast.pdf

Jindal proposing to cut college fund he pushed to create:
http://theadvocate.com/news/acadiana/11445777-31/jindal-considering-cuts-to-college

Board of Regents Commissioner: Budget Cuts could "Gut" colleges in Louisiana
http://www.dailyworld.com/story/news/local/2015/02/07/rallo-cuts-gut-colleges-louisiana/23063079/

And if you took time to read the original article I posted previously...you would note that UL-Lafayette's tuition has increase about 55% since Jindal took office, thanks to the cuts.

Don't take my word for it, google Louisiana newspapers and TV for the info.