Louisiana House Shows Self-Indulgent Ways
Self-Indulgent. Conceited. Egotistical. Arrogant. Those are all words that I would use to describe the average teenager. However, those words seem to be equally applicable to state legislators in Baton Rouge. Despite the fact we voted these folks into office to do our bidding, most seem to act in their own interest...our wants and needs be damned.
Case in point: sports betting in Louisiana. It seems simple. You approve the measure, which allows us (the people) to vote up or down whether or not we want betting in our community. But no. The legislature can't give up their power to the people. They stacked the deck against the bill to make sure it had no chance of making its way to us, the people.
Here's how this thing played out: The bill got approved by the Senate. It moved on to the House Judiciary committee where it also passed. But, instead of it going to the House floor for a vote, it got moved to the House Appropriations Committee which, due to its conservative and anti-gambling nature, was pretty much the killing floor for the bill. And, as expected, the bill was stopped cold with little or no chance to revive it.
Now, I get that there are a lot of folks against gambling. And understandably so. But, one of our main industries is the gambling industry, so why not give them every opportunity to succeed? And even more importantly, why not put it to the people for a vote? If people want it, they'll vote for it. If not, they won't. No different than casinos or fantasy gambling or any number of things. Although, even when the people vote for something like fantasy sports, the legislature goes behind the people to bend it to their will and not what the people voted on.
I guess my point of all this is the point I've had all along...under the way things are currently run, we have little to no control over our own lives. The legislature, for better or worse, has full reign to do as they please. We vote on something they don't like, they go behind us and change. Or, as is the case with sports betting, they just stack the deck to the point it has no chance to succeed. Our will, the will of the people means absolutely nothing to those in power in Baton Rouge.
At first, I was hesitant about a constitutional convention, but now I'm all for it. Until we restructure things and give more power back to the general populace, we're always going to be destined to fail on the world wide stage.