It isn’t a TV show; it’s the 5th congressional district race.
Thanks in part to “Duck Dynasty” star Phil Robertson’s endorsement, congressional candidate Vance McAllister shocked virtually everyone by qualifying for a runoff versus State Senator Neil Riser.
The general election will take place on Nov. 16 and will likely be a competition to decide which of the two Republicans is more conservative — or rather, which one will be the most militant toward his congressional colleagues once he is elected.
To clarify, Louisiana election law takes the two highest vote getters from the open primary and pits them in a runoff, regardless of party affiliation.
So the people of the 5th district, which includes both Monroe and Alexandria, are left without a candidate who seems willing to sit down with Democrats and work out a solution to the country’s problems.
This, however, ignores the country’s largest problem: the hyper-partisanship that pushed the U.S. government past the brink earlier in October.
That’s not going to be fixed any time soon.
In a time when ultra-conservatives are becoming politicians so they can stop the politicians, our country is paying a clear price. These representatives travel to Washington with the promise that they will buck the establishment and fight for the people’s rights.
On McAllister’s website, he pledges to “fight Obamacare” and “support traditional marriage.”
In other words, he wishes to continue fighting losing battles that could cost the Republicans the House in the 2014 elections.
To use Gov. Bobby Jindal’s words, the Republicans have become the “party of no,” meaning that whenever moderates or Democrats seek to compromise on a solution, they simply ignore it.
Neither candidate presents actual solutions to any problem; they just wallow in the ambiguity of “opposing big government.”
Big government must include state universities, because neither candidate mentions the recent slashes to the University’s funding.
In a press release, Riser promises to “defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”
However, he must not take into account that officials like him shut down the government and severely limited the nation’s military capabilities.
The 5th district — and Louisiana as a whole — deserves politicians who are willing to sit down and let the cool heads on Capitol Hill prevail. Whether Republican or Democrat, it has come to the point where that doesn’t matter, as long as they will be willing to cooperate with the system.
Instead of reaching bipartisan agreements, our politicians use the press to heckle each other. And, more often than not, our news outlets are pleased to run stories about the buffoonery that has taken place in Washington over the past few weeks.
Riser and McAllister both embody the spirit of these Tea Party congressmen. And while they are wont to stray from the term because of its current derision among everyone who matters, they won’t be any different from their labeled colleagues.
At some point, Republicans — and conservatives as a whole — have to come to terms with the fact that Obamacare is here to stay. And more importantly, they need to understand that if there’s a single issue our generation cares about, it’s social equality. There will be no anti-gay reaction that makes it possible for a bill like DOMA to ever reach the books again.
The 5th district race is but a microcosm of the issues that plague the GOP. And unless we as voters come to terms with the changes in our country, our state will remain near the bottom in everything besides gonorrhea.
But hey, at least we’re first in something.