After This Election Season, Moogie is Soooo Ready for VIDAP!

So, election day has come and gone in the Pelican State.  There are a few runoffs in the making, but nothing that I'm particularly interested in.  All the top elected positions in state government will now be held by Republicans, and that makes me happy even though I'm not a Republican.  I'm a registered Independent, but Republicans seem to lean closer towards smaller government and fiscal conservatism.  At least they tend to talk that talk, even if they don't always walk the walk when they get to Baton Rouge.  But, they're politicians, so if their mouths are moving, they're lying, or at least prevaricating.  We must always keep that notion in mind when opting to place someone in a position of power.

Three of the five proposed Constitutional Amendments passed by fairly narrow margins.  I voted against all of them , even though a few won't do too terribly much harm, because all that nonsense does not belong in a Constitution!!! 

Since it was adopted in 1974, the Louisiana Constitution has been subjected to 214 possible Amendments, and amended 151 of those tries.  Tack on 3 more in a couple of months.  One-hundred fifty-four amendments!!  And all those amendments were proposed by the Legislature because there is no provision for amendment by Initiated act of the electorate!  That's putting an awful lot of trust in those candidates we elect to represent (purportedly) our interests.  Trouble is, there are too many of them who are one-issue do-gooders and look-out-for-number-1ers.  And that's not even counting the ones who are career politicians and/or unethical cronyists. 

One-hundred fifty-four amendments.  I guess I shouldn't be too surprised, though -- the body of the Constitution has fourteen substantive articles, twice as many as in the US governing document!  Must be the French influence -- they don't exactly fawn all over a "less is more" concept.

I also voted against re-authorizing the proposed Regional Business Park Tax.  Why?  Because it's a freakin' TAX!!!  A tax to "stimulate industrial and commercial development" in New Orleans East.  And it doesn't specify who administers the tax, or what those administrators actually do.  And this is the first time since its inception in 1982 that the voters have reared up and said No More!

I know.  I know.  Most of the laws enacted in this once free land don't specify much of anything; they leave the devil and the details to bureaucrats. And that's part of the problem.  Ain't much sunshine behind the doors of government bureaucracies, no matter the level.

Back here in Louisiana, Boy Whiz Kid Bobby Jindal amassed some 66% of the vote to remain in the Governor's Mansion, besting his nearest opponent who only garnered 17.80%, and Andy's candidate, the interesting-sounding Greek lady who took 2.12%.  That's all well and good, I suppose, even though lame ducks can go rogue if you don't keep a pretty close eye on them.  Just look at what Congress tried to do after the 2010 elections. 

So, election day is over for another year.  Yep, one year.  That's something that really sucks about living in a state where the statewide elections are held in non-Congressional election years -- someone's always running for something.  Still, there is an upside to the slightest break from hard-hitting election season: the robo calls will stop for a little while!!!

I promise you, if we received one call over the last few weeks, we've received a hundred.  And they all call on each other's behalf down here!  It got to the point that if I didn't recognize the number on caller ID, I'd hit "answer" followed immediately by "end," so if you tried to call Moogie on the landline and you were hung up upon, sorry about that.  No, I'm not sorry at all.  We do what we gotta do to save our sanity.  I told one poor lady, who cold-called yesterday to talk to Pepper about some investment thing or another, that it was election day and we'd gotten about 92 calls and I could guarantee that she didn't want to talk to him under those circumstances.  She agreed.  Smart lady.

All the foregoing is designed to explain the need for a new voter policy.  Today, I'm announcing Moogie's new "Voters' Initiative to Dissuade Annoying Politicians," or VIDAP. It'll work like this:

In the future, every time a robo call for someone running for office hits the phones at Moogie's Mansion, or anywhere else enrolled in the program, the candidate (and any other "public servant" calling on behalf of the candidate) will receive a demerit, to be tabulated by the Enrollee's telephone service provider (the number of demerits filed against "other public servant callers" will be retained through two more election cycles), and once a pre-determined number of demerits has been amassed, that candidate will forfeit all votes in that household.  Each household may set its own number of demerits, and that number may be inscribed on the voter rolls where the candidates acquire the information with which to annoy voters.  So, in effect, the candidates will be rolling the dice whenever they opt to engage the robo.  Ya pays your money, ya takes your chances.

C'mon!  It can work!  Let's start lobbying the service providers today!