VOTER DISTRUST IN LOUISIANA AND ACROSS THE NATION!

Thursday, April 28^th, 2016

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

VOTER DISTRUST IN LOUISIANA AND ACROSS THE NATION!

And I thought voters were distrustful, angry and confrontational a few years back when I held public office in Louisiana.  This coming federal election is viewed by many, including yours truly, as a herculean and rather grim battle between good and evil, left and right, the good guys and the scum, Wormwood and the Patient, and Saint Michael vs. Satan.  But guess what?  There could be no victors.  We all could lose on November 8th.

Recently in the nation’s capital, I participated in the Washington Ideas Forum sponsored by the Atlantic Magazine, and there was a strong consensus of the current national mood.  Remember the movie “Christmas Vacation?”  The hero is surprised by a Christmas bonus of a subscription to the Jelly-of-the-Month Club.  His reaction reflects what many voters think of those elected officials representing them:  “Cheap, lying no good, rotten, four-flushing, low-life, snake-licking, dirt-eating, inbred, over-stuffed, ignorant, bloodsucking, dog-kissing, brainless, hopeless, heartless, worm headed sack of monkey bleep!”  You get my drift.

The average voter is looked on by these politico wondercan’ts as being too dumb to understand what the issues are all about.  We are the Rodney Dangerfields of the political process, and we don’t get any respect. The Washington crowd has all the answers, and your and my opinions have become irrelevant.

“Goldfinger” is my favorite Bond (James Bond) movie.  Remember when Bond (James Bond) is tied down on a table with a laser beam about to be cut in half, and he tells the bad guy, “You expect me to talk?”  Goldfinger answers:  “No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die.  There is nothing you can talk to me about that I don’t already know.”  That reflects the attitude of too many members of Congress who think they have all the answers, spend our tax dollars putting the country all the more in debt, and then look on those peons back home as irrelevant to their personal “get me elected” agenda.

One example of our delusional leadership is what’s happening in the Middle East.  Don’t you remember?  We are at war there and have assumed a massive expenditure in dollars and American lives.  The financial cost is approaching three trillion dollars, and the weekly military expenditures are running $2 billion a week. Yet you will not find a congressional campaign anywhere in the country that acknowledges the mess that has been created.

I once had the chance to visit in Washington with Ahmed Chalabi, who was the leader of the Iraqi National Congress and the former Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq.  He talked of the bitterness of many Iraqis towards the U.S.  “We wanted a provisional government after the demise of Hussein. The Americans wanted occupation. We thought America would be liberators, but instead they became occupiers.”

Then he said something quite disturbing. “The vast majority of Arabs think the 9/11 tragedy was instigated within the U.S.  You are the strongest country in the world.  It’s hard for many Arabs to believe that 19 young men with box cutters could do so much harm to America.” 

The U.S. spends billions on Middle Eastern oil, and the proceeds get funneled to the very enemy American soldiers are fighting. We seem to be at war with our allies, and the U.S. is the only country in the history of the world to pay for both sides of the fight.

We are decades away from peace in that region, the cost is staggering to our economy, yet not a word, not a suggestion, and not a voice of concern is being raised by any candidate in my home state of Louisiana or nationwide.

So the choices get tougher as Election Day approaches. Do you throw the present bums out, and end up with new bums?  Like the Who song says: “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.”  It looks like a crapshoot folks. There is a lack of any strong will to address what ails this nation by candidates on both sides of the isle.  So if you roll the dice, unfortunately, you may lose either way.

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“We are angry about our incompetent, dysfunctional government that pays no attention to the desires of the people.”  Carl Paladino

Peace and Justice

Jim Brown

Jim Brown’s syndicated column appears each week in numerous newspapers throughout the nation and on websites worldwide.  You can read all his past columns and see continuing updates at http://www.jimbrownusa.com.  You can also hear Jim’s nationally syndicated radio show each Sunday morning from 9:00 am till 11:00 am Central Time on the Genesis Radio Network, with a live stream at http://www.jimbrownusa.com.

THE KINGFISH, LOUISIANA, AND PRESIDENTIAL POLITICS!

Thursday, April 21^st, 2016

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

THE KINGFISH, LOUISIANA, AND PRESIDENTIAL POLITICS!

Huey Long would have been right in the middle of the current presidential election if he were still alive.  He began a legacy of a long list of Louisiana politicians who had national aspirations.  Later governors John McKeithen, Edwin Edwards, Buddy Roemer and Bobby Jindal all fell by the wayside in the quest for national office.

A primer for anyone studying Louisiana politics is Robert Penn Warren’s book “All the King’s Men,” a Pulitzer Prize wining novel based on the life of Huey Long.  Warren was a close observer of the Long dynasty while teaching at LSU in the 1940s.  I re-read the novel recently and noticed an eerie resemblance to much of the rhetoric emanating from both the Trump and Sanders presidential campaigns today. Warren’s candidate is told:

“Just stir ‘em up, it doesn’t matter how or why, and they’ll love you and come back for more. Pinch ’em in the soft place. They aren’t alive, most of ‘em, and haven’t been for 20 years. It’s up to you to give ‘em something to stir ‘em up and make ‘em feel alive again. Just for half an hour. That’s what they come for. Tell ‘em anything. But for Sweet Jesus sake, don’t try to improve their minds.”

The New York Times remembered Huey Long this week as a candidate who had “no belt he was unwilling to hit below. He had a paranoid style of attack.  Long relied on threats and insults. There was an ozone stink of violence at his rallies; hecklers were dealt with severely.”

Is it fair to compare Long’s tactics to the campaign of Donald Trump?  Would Trump, if successful, end up as a demagogue like Warren’s character, and like Huey Long himself?  Probably not. Trump has build a successful movement on running against the establishment, and the Trump campaign apparently feels that the incendiary means being used as a electioneering tactic justifies the end to a Trump presidency.

Louisiana’s musical poet laureate Randy Newman (“Louisiana-They’re goanna’ wash us away”) wrote about Long in his song “Kingfish,” that certainly has a broad appeal to democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders’ supporters.

Everybody gather ‘round

Loosen up your suspenders

Hunker down on the ground

I’m a cracker

And you are too

But don’t I take good care of you.

Sanders has surprised political pundits by running as an angry populist who has strong appeal with white, young liberals.  And let’s call it like it is.  He has the backing of many democrats who just don’t like Hillary Clinton.

Author Dwight Garner reminds us that the title of “All the King’s Men” comes from the nursery rhyme “Humpty Dumpty.”  Political campaigns in Louisiana and across the country too often are based on attacks and attempts to tear down the present way we govern.  But it’s not difficult to posture and pontificate on what’s wrong with the current system.

It’s easy to break things.  The challenge is how you put them back together again. Humpty Dumpty couldn’t do it.  I wonder if any of the current presidential candidates can?

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“The more you observe politics, the more you’ve got to

admit that each political party is worse than the other.”

Will Rogers

Peace and Justice

Jim Brown

Jim Brown’s syndicated column appears each week in numerous newspapers throughout the nation and on websites worldwide.  You can read all his past columns and see continuing updates at http://www.jimbrownusa.com.  You can also hear Jim’s nationally syndicated radio show each Sunday morning from 9:00 am till 11:00 am Central Time on the Genesis Radio Network, with a live stream at http://www.jimbrownusa.com.

FREEDOM OF CHOICE IN MOTORCYCLE HELMET DEBATE

Thursday, April 14^th, 2016

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

FREEDOM OF CHOICE IN

MOTORCYCLE HELMET DEBATE

One of the hot issues in the current session of the Louisiana Legislature, meeting at the state capitol in Baton Rouge, is the repeal of a law that currently mandates the wearing of a safety helmet when riding a motorcycle.  Proponents of such a repeal site “freedom of choice” concerns, saying it should be an individual decision as to whether to wear or not wear a helmet.  They say there should be no role for government to play in this decision.  And I sure agree that the issue is one of freedom of choice (but read on).

You really have missed a thrill if you never have ridden a motorcycle on a back country road on a fall day, as the leaves are changing and the breeze is blowing in your face. I’ve tasted the good vibes of such breezes on many occasions, and have ridden a “bike” most of my life.  A Kawasaki off-road 250cc in my early Ferriday days after college, an Italian Vespa at Tulane Law School to get around New Orleans, and a BMW 11500GS as I grew older.

The GS was the best bike I ever had.  And boy, did I have visions of riding all over the world. The BMW could do it all.  I thought one day I just might circumnavigate the globe, taking on all types of tough and challenging terrain. Crossing a swollen river in some remote South American jungle, or triumphantly conquering the unforgiving heat and sands of the Egyptian deserts while in route to Cairo.  Or how about competing in the Paris-Dakar or Baja 1000, on this BMW that has been pegged as the fastest all-around on road, off-road bike in the world?  Oh all right.  Maybe a bit too much to take on, but you get my drift.

There just is something special about a challenging ride on a good motorcycle. But you know what?  I always wore a helmet.  And for one simple reason.  You are an absolute idiot if you do not. And if you think otherwise, just take this test.

Find a large immovable object like an enormous oak tree or a brick wall.
Stand about 30 paces away, then run toward this sizeable fixed obstruction. As you get close, place your hands to your side, put your arms crosswise, and put your face up, continuing to run as fast as you can. Notice how it feels when you hit this large sapling head on. You know what many of us call a cyclist who doesn’t wear a helmet?  An organ donor.

So how did you do on the test?  See where I am coming from?  But what about the “freedom of choice” argument?  Isn’t that a personal decision where government should have no say so?  Why should any government entity tell an individual what to wear when no one else is involved?  But that’s the catch.  There is someone else involved! And it’s you and me and our right to “freedom of choice.” You see, a large number of motorcyclists have minimum required insurance, or no insurance at all.  Louisiana only requires at $15,000 dollar policy, the lowest amount in the country.  Most states required a minimum of $25,000.

So here is what happens. A motorcyclist gets into a serious wreck, doesn’t have on a helmet, receives major head injuries, and the cost of medical care is astronomical. Head injury is the leading cause of death in motorcycle crashes. Riders who don’t wear helmets and who experience a crash are 40 percent more likely to sustain a fatal head injury.  If there is a minimum insurance policy involved, the $15,000 barely covers the ambulance and initial basic care cost of getting to the hospital. If there is a brain injury, and there often is when no helmet is worn, the costs could run up to a $1 million or more.  Many such injuries require medical care for the rest of the patient’s life.

The injured rider must then turn to Medicaid or the charity hospital system for continuing care that often lasts for years.  And guess who pays?  That’s right.  You and I as taxpayers.  We have to pay the bill for the irresponsible rider who suffers the injuries, then passes the cost on to us.  So isn’t our “freedom of choice,” not to be burdened with someone else’s irresponsible behavior, being infringed upon?

One option might be considered to protect the taxpayer’s “freedom of choice.”  If a motorcyclist wants to ride bareheaded, raise the insurance requirements on this “free spirit” to $500,000.  For those who wear helmets, leave the requirement as is. That way, there would be funds available to pay for the massive medical costs involved when a rider receives a head injury.

So yes, keep your right to choose.  But allow me the same freedom not to be saddled with the cost of your mistake.  Either pay up with high insurance limits, or use some common sense and wear a helmet.  Either way, I want my freedom of choice too.

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Peace and Justice

Jim Brown

Jim Brown’s syndicated column appears each week in numerous newspapers throughout the nation and on websites worldwide.  You can read all his past columns and see continuing updates at http://www.jimbrownusa.com.  You can also hear Jim’s nationally syndicated radio show each Sunday morning from 9:00 am till 11:00 am Central Time on the Genesis Radio Network, with a live stream at http://www.jimbrownusa.com.