Louisiana will not let go of its bizarre, quirky way of handling politics, nor should it.
Now, the governor’s power is especially poignant. Governor-elect John Bel Edwards is pushing hard for Democrat Walt Leger to be his speaker of the house in the upcoming legislative session.
Republicans hold a supermajority in the House, and if Louisiana were like every other state in the United States, the choice for speaker would be a no-brainer: the most senior Republican or the one with the most clout rises up.
These people do not adhere to strict partisan norms.
Moderation becomes the spice of life for Louisianians, as the extremes appear constantly.
Mardi Gras occurs on the grandest of scales. A man who openly flaunted his philandering slept in the Governor’s Mansion for almost two decades. A former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard almost became governor, and drive-thru daiquiri shops dot the state like oil wells in the Gulf of Mexico.
This is why, in our politics, we have never knowingly elected an extremist.
When elected, chiefly if one receives almost 60 percent of the vote as Edwards did, voters sent the system a clear message: You have a mandate, and we want it fulfilled.
This allows the governor to enact his vision about the best way to push our state into more prosperous days.
Absentee Gov. Bobby Jindal forced his draconian reforms on Louisiana, and while his opposition waged a battle against his catastrophic proposals, the system only functions if fighting eventually stops and work begins.
The unwritten rules of Louisiana politics aided this state in good times and bad. No one outside of this year round carnival will ever fully grasp of just what keeps the gumbo a-stirin’.
The national conversation about Louisiana post-2007 has been its growth as a ruby red Republican roux house of conservatives.
The Beltway misses again.
Our state is one where Protestant Baptists in the northern “hills” coexist with Cajun Catholics, Creoles and those who, if they attempted to define their ethnic background, would simply say their family had lived on the same bayou for more than a century.
The Longs and anti-Long factions were similar on many issues, with the anti-Long camp focused on accomplishing the same policy goals but deposing the Longs from their political pedestal.
The state functioned without much change from Foster to Blanco. Both adhered to a centrist ideology. Jindal campaigned as a moderate, and, if not for his miscalculation on what would excite the Republican base, he would govern similarly.
Louisiana’s constitution, no matter how much it’s changed, always gave the governor the power to forcefully legislate their policies.
Fox News and other conservative outlets may attempt to castigate Edwards’ drafting of Leger as an overreach or him not observing the independence of the Legislature. They may make this a national story about Democratic malfeasance, and they would be incorrect.
Tip O’Neil’s saying, “All politics is local,” no longer holds absolute truth.
Garrett Hines is a 21-year-old political science senior from Monroe, Louisiana. You can reach him on Twitter @garrettH_TDR.