The current political climate is dominated by knee-jerk reactions.
It’s a result of the 24-hour news cycle and a strongly polarized two-party system. When we see something we don’t like, the automatic reaction is to turn on our heels and run to the other party, hoping its members will have a quick and easy solution to the problem.
This makes it difficult to implement any long-term political plans, and nearly impossible to commit to any solution that could truly affect any systemic change.
So every election cycle, we hear people clamoring for change and politicians offering the most drastic, immediate solutions possible.
Here in Baton Rouge, we’re lucky to have a mayor who bucks the trend and has committed to programs that will bring us a better future.
That is, if we can be bothered to keep him around.
Kip Holden’s main opponent in this year’s race is Republican Mike Walker, the personification of right-wing reactionism.
Holden summed up the race best in a recent candidates’ forum.
“You have three choices in this race … neutral, reverse and drive. I’m drive.”
Both Holden and Walker are campaigning on the basic issues of crime and education. Holden has worked hard for the last eight years to enact long-term programs to improve both, and Walker is running on the basis that Holden’s programs haven’t worked yet.
The link between education and crime is well-documented, and it’s refreshing to see a politician who understands and accepts a more modern approach to the issues at hand. Holden’s adoption of such progressive ideas has been recognized with awards from the Novogradac Community Development Foundation.
Holden comes from a difficult upbringing and understands how the culture of crime affects people from a young age. He knows that eliminating such a well-entrenched problem means a lot of hard work over a long period of time — working to kill the problem at its source.
So what fresh new ideas does Mike Walker add to the conversation?
He wants more cops.
The centerpiece of Walker’s campaign is his so-called “Nine Steps to Safer Streets” plan to increase police presence in Baton Rouge. Some highlights of the plan include doubling the number of Street Operations units, inflating the narcotics division and immediately declaring a state of emergency.
A level-headed and well-reasoned plan, no?
Sure, arrest statistics under Walker would be higher than under Holden. But history has shown time after time that increased police presence does nothing to stop gang activity.
The only proven way to stop gang activity is to prevent children from being sucked into the gang lifestyle — something Walker either does not understand or is unwilling to do.
No one contests that crime is a problem in Baton Rouge – the city is ranked in the ninety-seventh percentile of dangerous cities. But Walker’s plan of attack will do nothing to stop criminals in the long term.
Walker’s ideas for helping Baton Rouge’s schools are equally as short-sighted.
One of his ideas is based on Washington, D.C.’s public school system, which since 2007 has been under the control of a committee presided over by the mayor. His campaign has cited the model as “working really well” and “one out-of-the-box idea that could be considered.”
It’s true that in D.C., proficiency scores on standardized tests rose by almost 50 percent since 2006.
Unfortunately for Walker, it’s also true that several D.C. schools have since been investigated for cheating on standardized tests. With the fact that almost half of D.C. teachers have been deemed unqualified to teach, the system doesn’t seem to be “working really well.”
Essentially, Holden is trying to vaccinate us against the city’s ailments. Walker just wants to keep us doped up so we don’t notice the symptoms.
