If you are bleeding from the head and also happen to have a couple of scrapes on your knees, it makes sense to go to the hospital for the blood gushing from your brain before addressing the tiny scrapes.
Apparently, Gov. Bobby Jindal does not think this way. He’d rather focus on the scrapes — as evidenced by his recent call for Louisiana to eliminate income and corporate taxes despite the state’s lack of money that has led to slashing the state’s higher education budget over the past several years. That’s not to even mention his cuts to healthcare.
Louisiana is broke. And even worse, there are only two places where money can be taken from when we have a budget hole to fill — the state’s higher education budget or health care budget. Everything else is off the table.
So why, in a time when money in the state is already missing, would the governor propose a plan to cut income and corporate taxes while increasing sales taxes?
Despite how much the policy could increase Jindal’s political clout and help his chances for a possible 2016 GOP presidential bid, the governor needs to wake up and realize his focus should be on the state right now. Does the governor honestly think young voters, who are credited with helping President Barack Obama gain his historic victories, will be happy to hear how much money Jindal’s cut from his state’s higher education budget?
It seems yet again, Jindal’s eyes are set on a much larger prize: a presidency. It’s a classic case of actions versus words. Jindal says his focus is on Louisiana, not commander-in-chief.
But the illogical decisions he continues to enact, kicking Louisianians while they’re down, seem to indicate his focus is on becoming the ideal Republican presidential candidate as opposed to the ideal Louisiana governor.
Jindal should be doing everything in his power to bring more money into the state at a time like this. His flagship university is sinking as a direct result of his policies, yet he shows no concern about the fact that faculty haven’t received pay raises in four years.
It’s increasingly difficult for us to understand how it’s possible that Jindal, who’s Oxford-educated and numbers among exclusive Rhodes Scholar members, seems to have no regard for higher education in his own state. If the governor does not prioritize higher education, it is nearly impossible for the legislature to do so.
The fifth consecutive midyear budget reduction just hit the University, but Jindal brushed it off. He ignored the fact that five midyear cuts in a row are brutal for any university, regardless of a less intense cut the fifth time around.
If Jindal truly wants to prove he’s a leader, he’ll prove he’s a governor committed to the state before he dares to commit to a nation.
