Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry just signed a bill to require a poster sized display of the Ten Commandments in every public school classroom in the state. He proudly says, “I can’t wait to be sued.” And he will be. The ACLU and the Freedom from Religion Foundation have promised to sue over this obvious unconstitutional law that violates the separation of church and state. Landry’s reasoning, “If you want to respect the rule of law you’ve got to start from the original law giver, which was Moses”. He does have a history of making things up. In a June 2012 radio interview he claimed the Obama administration told the TSA to allow Muslims to pass through security. TSA said this was not true. Landry and state legislature are operating out of fear.
The legislature is working on bills to lengthen prison sentences, limit access to parole, prosecute 17-year-olds with crime as adults. Let’s keep people locked up even longer in the one of the worst prison systems in the country. I don’t know if they are working on improving rehabilitation. For the real bad guys, the state legislature wants other options besides lethal injections. Those options will include Nitrogen gas and electrocution. Back to the future. Landry has also signed a bill to allow people to carry concealed weapons without a permit. Other issues on their agenda include designating abortion pills as dangerous controlled substances. Landry has said if people don’t like Louisiana’s strict anti-abortion law which does not make exceptions for rape or incest, they can go live in another state. And the legislature is considering allowing judges to order surgical castration for child sex offenders.
Jeff Landry has only been in office just over six months, but he’s moving fast. He’s the former state attorney general and served in congress. He’s the face of the Trump controlled Republicans Party. I know this is Louisiana. But another Trump term could see more of America look like Louisiana. He’s only fifty-three years old and already there is talk in political circles of a future in higher office. He and Florida’s Ron DeSantis and Texas’s Greg Abbott are appealing to the conservative white Christians who like to dress their fear and racism in the cloak of patriotism. The trend in the population in the United States is becoming more ethnically diverse. The government predicts whites will drop to just over fifty-five percent of the population by 2030. By 2050, whites will account for less than fifty percent of the population.
The country has gone through cycles of racism, and religious discrimination and persecution . Starting with Native Americans, African American slaves, Chinese, Jews, even white Europeans like Italians and Irish. People see change as a threat. These politicians feed on this fear. We are at a crisis point in our history. Not since the Civil War has the political divide been so serious. It’s not just the south. There are midwestern states where politicians are using fear and loathing and refusing any attempt at compromise. Congress is the prime example. If we don’t deal with the coming change, we will know even greater fear.
Yes! Isn’t it scary? Your journal entry hit the nail on the head!
New Orleans is a little blue island among a sea of red. All of my friends here are progressive, well informed people. We are disgusted. The elected Democrats from New Orleans have almost no power or support in the legislature. Landry keeps saying he has a “mandate”, but he was elected with a very small percentage of the population.
Thanks for your interest. Joshua is now working for the Wren Collective, after years as a Capital Appeals attorney, and Allison is a reproduction rights attorney. She wrote part of the filing for the Alabama case that went to the Supreme Court.
We do what we can. 🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊