Political Horizons for July 6, 2008

• By MARK BALLARD
• Advocate Capitol news bureau editor
• Published: Jul 6, 2008 - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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A recent front-page photograph of a child with his limbs crushed caught the interest of my 7-year-old son. 

The child had been crippled by supporters of Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe in an attempt to intimidate political opponents. The 84-year-old “liberation hero” has overseen his nation’s economy sinking and violence spiraling.

Last week he again swore to uphold a constitution that demands government transparency and restraint even as he clung to power using extra-legal and violent means — including torturing the children of those who disagree with him.

We had to explain to our son that in many countries of the world people are not free to disagree with their government officials. But in the United States of America, we, the people, keep after our government officials to do what the Constitution promises.

What keeps our country strong and growing is our willingness to debate and disagree, then eventually come to a compromise. 

For my son, government is still a tough concept to grasp. In a world where his pursuit of happiness is pretty much governed by his parents, the idea that a whole other group of adults, to whom he is not related, could have such a dramatic impact on his daily life came as something of shock.

But explaining the responsibility of democracy seemed a worthy way to celebrate the Fourth of July.

Louisiana demonstrated this highest praise of the institution last week when an angry public pressed its governor to veto a pay raise its legislators tried to slam through with little debate in public sessions created for just that purpose.

Gov. Bobby Jindal — and now an ever-growing league of legislators — can say all day long how much they really were against the pay raise. But make no mistake, had the people of Louisiana not voiced their outrage in e-mails, phone calls, letters and in the media, the pay raise would have gone through. 

Louisiana lawmakers were prepared to pocket the cash because they calculated that Louisiana voters would lose enough interest that they could weather whatever heat was generated.

The results of this recent public outcry for state government officials to do as they promised, is proof enough that it is Louisiana’s voters who bear the most responsibility for the state ranking at or near the bottom of countless lists on education, health care and attractiveness to outside investors.

In editorial columns last week alone, The Detroit Free Press compared Louisiana and Michigan in an obvious attempt to motivate getting that state’s Legislature to increase spending on indigent defense.

The Reno Gazette-Journal referenced the Louisiana example as the way Nevada should not foster technology and science.