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Shreveport Times newspaper
Emily Metzgar op-ed column
Published: Marsh 7, 2007
IS
LOUISIANA SERIOUS ABOUT CHANGE?
Longtime observers of policy and politics in
Louisiana could be forgiven for thinking not much has changed in the state since 2005 hurricane season, or in the past several decades for that matter. As an evening talk show host on CNN Headline News commented last week, “
Louisiana, I don’t know what you people are eating, smoking or thinking down there, but stop it.” A few items pulled from state headlines in recent weeks suggest that
Louisiana, it’s political system and its public policy decision-makers are still vested in the past and are unwilling to do what’s necessary to take a stand for the future. Teacher pay raises are still, apparently, among the highest priority items for the Blanco administration as the state heads into a legislative session next month. Never mind the looming insurance and health care crises or the fact that simply raising teacher par does little to address the problems with the state’s education system – problems that only political will (not pay raises) can fix.
Louisiana’s insurance crisis looms and part of the governor’s effort toaddress it with the insurance industry consists of telling said industry that the state legislature is too unreliable to be trusted to bring palatable reform. It’s not clear how such an approach will help either the state’s reputation or state residents in need of affordable insurance. The state’s health-care system remains the sacred cow of state politics. Efforts that recommend changing the status quo are ignored or slapped down with accusations of political motive for reform. Clearly, a system which has helped ensure
Louisiana’s nation-leading infant mortality rates; diabetes; heart disease and cancer mortality rates; and sky-high percentages of uninsured should be left well enough alone. Industrial recruitment, less charitably referred to as “smokestack chasing,” still remains the state’s go-to economic development strategy. Never mind that the state’s business environment is less-than-conducive to home-grown operations that statistically from the backbone of the economy but never see the kinds of tax breaks and other incentives offered by state officials in their efforts to woo manufacturing operations from out of state. Information that should be part of the public record is boarded like political gold. Meetings that should be accessible to the public are moved around rendering public or media attention a near impossibility. Interest in voting records is portrayed by threatened legislators as attempts at political blackmail. And observations about the dysfunction of it all are met with derision and accusations of nefarious motives. All of the above examples illustrate that
Louisiana, its leaders and its voters just keep doing the same thing over and over but expect, somewhat irrationally, different results. None of the above suggests progress. Non of the above offers hope for better things to come. Non of the above hints at willingness on the part of current leadership to change anything about political traditions and policy practices that led
Louisiana to its place at the wrong end of many rankings. Continued insouciance in the face of tremendous opportunities for reform is a recipe for stagnation or worse. As comedian Irwin Corey once observed, “If we don’t change direction soon, we’ll end up where we’re going.” And for
Louisiana, that’s not a good place at all.
Emily Metzgar is a Shreveport-based writer. She maintains a site at www.emilymetzgar.com Write to her in care of The Times,
P. O. Box 30222,
Shreveport,
LA
71130-0222 or send e-mail to shreveportopinion@gannett.com
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