It’s early November, and so an event almost as exciting as the Super Bowl is taking place-elections for our federal representatives and local leaders! In the spirit of fostering a good conversation about our candidates, I thought it would be fun to do a quick look at a handful of those running and a quick little opinion one way or another. While I welcome blind followers here, I must insist doing your own research for the local elections (judges, mayors, etc) as well as the amendments. I will not speak on those.

               I am doing most of these analyses based off of what each candidate’s website lists as priority issues. This is for the sake of simplicity, because we can all argue to cows come home about each candidate and I’m not trying to dig skeletons out of closets (or hide them) to make a point.

United States Representative (Congressional District 3)

Clay Higgins (Republican) (incumbent)

               Representative Clay Higgins has been a character for a long time, ever since becoming the face of the St. Landry Crime Stoppers. He spotlights four issues immediately on his website (with a full list next to it): Agriculture, Energy & the Environment, Healthcare, and Immigration. His house.gov website is well done to explain his position on these issues, but also have more information about what he has done while in office in relation to these issues. His position and his past actions listed on this website seem agreeable to me.   

Tia LeBrun (Democrat)

               Tia LeBrun came on the scene fairly quietly, I’d say. She is currently a teacher. Her website is unimpressive, and in her key issues she lists Reproductive Freedom as the number one issue. While this is a red flag in and of itself, her website then tries to lump in general healthcare reform under that heading. To make a clearer picture, if anything it should be the other way around, but that’s neither here nor there. Her other two issues, Education and Disaster Relief, are in line with most of the other candidates, though surely her way of going about improving these aspects of our lives are different and not correct in the opinion of others.

Holden Hoggatt (Republican)

               Holden Hoggatt is a name I have never heard before. His background is law, where according to his website he spent time as a felony drug prosecutor and now runs a private practice. As far as the issues go, he lists four topics out of five that are being widely promoted by candidates. Economy, Crime, Infrastructure, and Fishing & Agriculture. I like the specific examples he lists for ways he would try to improve each issue. His biggest challenge in this election in my opinion is that the incumbent is in the same party with years of DC experience. Could be a toss up.

               These are just a few of the candidates who are running for the 3^rd Congressional District. I did a quick peek of the others, but felt that these three might be the front runners. There is one in particular, however, who does not seem to be fit for any sort of office, federally or locally. What I saw of this candidate’s online presence borders on the line of satire. And while I know we have had elected leaders in the past with similar social media habits, this one lacks a professionalism that the others had.

               There are several others who are also running, and while I chose to spotlight these three above I do not want the others completely ignored. The rest of the 3^rd Congressional District ballot for Louisiana is as follows:

• Lessie Olivia LeBlanc (Democrat)
• Guy McLendon (Libertarian)
• Thomas “Lane” Payne Jr. (Republican)
• Jacob “Jake” Shaheen (Republican)
• Gloria R. Wiggins (Democrat)

Please go to the websites of these candidates and decide who you believe is the best for our community and our country!

Sources:

https://voterportal.sos.la.gov/sampleballot

https://www.ballotready.org/la

https://clayhiggins.house.gov/issues

https://lebrun4louisiana.com/keyissues

Issues

               It’s early November, and so an event almost as exciting as the Super Bowl is taking place-elections for our federal representatives and local leaders! In the spirit of fostering a good conversation about our candidates, I thought it would be fun to do a quick look at a handful of those running and a quick little opinion one way or another. While I welcome blind followers here, I must insist doing your own research for the local elections (judges, mayors, etc) as well as the amendments. I will not speak on those.

               I am doing most of these analyses based off of what each representative’s website lists as priority issues. This is for the sake of simplicity, because we can all argue until the cows come home about each candidate and I’m not trying to dig skeletons out of closets (or hide them) to make a point.

United States Senator

John Kennedy (Republican) (incumbent)

               Senator Kennedy’s Senate seat is up for grabs this year, and the winner will be serving along side Bill Cassidy in Washington. Senator Kennedy has been having a great time on TV—both as a correspondent on news channels and with his own campaign commercials. The issues he is focusing on (at least for this campaign cycle) is fighting inflation, putting America first, and helping Louisiana families, amongst several others. While I would put Louisiana families directly in front of putting America first, I still like this slate of concerns, as they have the most widespread effects for our state and country. He also lists subjects such as education, disaster recovery, protecting jobs, protecting life, and lowering energy costs. All great goals, as long as they are pursued in a proper way. I believe Kennedy can do that.

Gary Chambers, Jr. (Democrat)

               I remember when Chambers’ face started popping up everywhere, his campaign videos starting to spread, and his popularity grow. He definitely was noteworthy. But looking at his priorities, I’ve no interest in having him fill a federal seat. What immediately strikes me is that in explaining his priorities, he is constantly expanding on the black community in all of America and in Louisiana. I would never say that black advocates have no place in our society, but judging by the way Gary has his priorities explained, he could be better fit for local minority groups, not representing the whole state.

               Looking at his stance on the issues, he appears to want to appeal to the more polarized among us. His stance on reproductive freedom is backwards looking. I’ve mentioned in other articles why the pro-abortion sides do not make good arguments. Here is someone trying to capitalize on that. I’ll just say here that in my opinion, all of our reproductive freedom is the freedom to sleep with whoever we want. But pregnancy only happens one way.

               Gary is a no-go for a federal office for me, but it appears that he would do great as a local-level black and minority community advocate.

Devin Lance Graham (Republican)

                I don’t believe I’ve heard of this candidate until I began doing research for this article. Not much on his website besides some vague blurbs about his priority issues. I do appreciate his focus on helping the wellbeing of Louisiana from the federal perspective, but that energy could also be used in a state legislature. Right off the bat, it’s a no for me.

Luke Mixon (Democrat)

               I looked at Luke Mixon’s website a while back and thought he was an interesting candidate for the most part. Mostly because his second-listed priority is daycare. While I’m sure the cost of daycare can be restrictive to some families, I also remember being charged a fee as a student without child at UL to support the day care services over there. These sorts of fees (and, on a higher level, taxes) drive people insane. People want to and do give out of the kindness of their hearts. We shouldn’t be forced to share the cost of daycares (or universal health) but we should have the freedom to do it personally.

               Mixon, like Chambers, also makes a point to declare he would support women’s health by way of legalizing and protecting abortion. The examples that Mixon gives to support his stance, however, I have shown are very much marginal cases. The important thing to remember regarding “reproductive rights” is that the majority of abortions are not conducted because a pregnancy resulted from rape or incest, and life-saving medical procedures that terminate a pregnancy as a side effect are still protected by the government and such a procedure does not go against most (if not all) religious teachings.

               There are several others who are also running, and while I chose to spotlight these four I do not want the others completely ignored. The rest of the Senator ballot for Louisiana is as follows:

• Beryl Billiot (No Party)
• Xan John (Other)
• Bradley McMorris (Independent)
• M.V. “Vinny” Mendoza (Democrat)
• W. Thomas La Fontaine Olson (No Party)
• Salvador P. Rodriguez (Democrat)
• Aaron C. Sigler (Libertarian)
• Syrita Steib (Democrat)
• Thomas Wenn (Other)

Please go to the websites of these candidates and decide who you believe is the best for our community and our country!

Sources:

https://voterportal.sos.la.gov/sampleballot

https://www.ballotready.org/la

Home

Home

https://devinlancegraham.com/

https://www.lukemixon.com/

               In the wake of the SCOTUS decision over-turning Roe v. Wade, there were (predictably) protests all over. Just like always, these protests were done poorly and for the wrong reasons. Naturally there were folks on both sides of the protests that make them look like fools and take away from their credibility. Sounds like a broken record.

               The inspiration for this article is the one which occurred in front of Our Lady of Wisdom on UL’s campus. There was the token viral photo which went around which most people have seen. If you haven’t seen it yet, feel free to look it up. It’s a wonderfully framed photograph showing part of a situation (because who ever needs context?) and giving the wrong connotation to what should be remembered as a poorly planned protest.

               Our jumping off point will be the protest in question. These folks gathered outside of Our Lady of Wisdom on a Sunday morning, disrupting a Mass. The protest was planned outside of a Catholic church because “Because it’s undeniable in Lafayette, Louisiana, that these churches have an insane amount of power over a legislation and therefore an insane amount of power over people of color, impoverished people, the LGBTQ community and the list goes on” according to the star of the photograph. I will invoke Hitchen’s razor here to throw out that claim. This idea can only make sense to someone who willfully remains ignorant to what the Church does in our communities. Catholic Charities USA is one of the top charities in the country. That stands alone from all the Catholic schools, hospitals, homeless shelters, homeless diners, and more that do not fall under CCUSA’s umbrella. The fact is that the Catholic Church is one of, if not the biggest charitable organizations in the world.

               Of course, any one who bothered to learn about Catholic teaching and practices would have known that anyway. It would be plain that the Church cares about all people regardless of sexual orientation, skin color, or wealth. But it doesn’t matter because even if they cited a legitimate reason to protest at the church, why choose Our Lady of Wisdom? There are 121 parishes in the Diocese of Lafayette. These protesters did not choose the largest parish in the diocese or the most well known. And then there were multiple protests at this same church, again ignoring common sense.

               Common sense would suggest that the proper place to protest would be the location of actual legislation. Baton Rouge should be the target of protests, since it was Baton Rouge that wrote in the trigger laws regarding abortions. Here’s a fun activity: remind anyone who argues that abortion laws are written by white male Republicans that our state’s trigger law was written by a black female Democrat and signed into law by a Democrat governor. These folks do not know what they are protesting because they cannot be bothered to be educated. They only want to rely on their knee-jerk reactions, which we find time and again are the wrong reactions.

               Let’s not forget the actual laws in question. People who are in the pro-abortion camp claim that the new laws are evil and doing anything from simply repressing women to opening a hunting season. This is again willful ignorance. Our laws are very easy to find and read. So are statistics. Our laws do not prohibit medical procedures which may have a side effect of terminating a pregnancy. Statistics show that the large majority of abortions are not done because the life of the mother is at stake, or even in those horrible situations of rape or incest. We can all agree that a woman’s body is absolutely her own, but we cannot ignore consequences. Pregnancy only happens one way.

               Now the other side. The picture shows a white man in sunglasses looking intimidatingly at the young woman with the bullhorn. The picture only shows these two in front of Wisdom. It certainly looks bad and gives credibility to all those who complain about white males forcing or intimidating to get their way. Maybe it is a carefully framed picture. Maybe it’s actually a man trying to intimidate this protestor, which of course is not okay. Regardless of how the picture came about, it seems to justify part of this poor protest. The picture has given some amount of life to this event.

               Let’s recap: these protests are poorly planned, occurring in all the wrong places for all the wrong reasons. Educating yourself on a cause you want to support is vitally important, as well as having a passing understanding on the side you are protesting against. Sex has consequences and the freedom to be careless or not in the bedroom does not justify giving a right to abort pregnancies. Medical treatments that terminate pregnancies are not abortions. There are always cameras around. Carelessness in the heat of the moment will certainly backfire.

Sources:

https://www.theadvocate.com/acadiana/news/article_f3d6b88a-f716-11ec-9f1a-63ba8178a569.html

https://www.katc.com/news/abortion-rights-advocates-hit-the-streets-for-the-lafayette-bans-off-our-body-march

https://www.forbes.com/lists/top-charities/?sh=171ffc7a5f50

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitchens%27s_razor

http://catholiccharitiesacadiana.org/history-cca

https://legis.la.gov/legis/BillInfo.aspx?i=242567

https://senate.la.gov/smembers?ID=34