brokenclock

Like a broken clock that is correct twice a day, Rep. John LaBruzzo, R-Metairie, occasionally comes up with a good idea.

LaBruzzo has proposed an amendment to our state constitution to require students to have credit for a course covering the U.S. Constitution to receive a baccalaureate degree from a state public college or university.

Amendment needed

The proposed amendment is a good start, but it needs an amendment to make it better.

One of our leges should offer an amendment to HB 415 to require any candidate for election to the Louisiana Lege have successfully completed a college-level course on the constitutions of the United States and the state of Louisiana.

This is particularly important for those who escape the LaBruzzo requirement by attending private and out-of-state colleges and universities.

This should apply to incumbent leges seeking reelection.  In other words, there should be no “grandfather provision.”

Why?

Those who make our laws should know as much as those who must live under the laws.

After decades of watching the lege process in Baton Rouge, it is very clear that our leges don’t appear to know that we have a state constitution or they don’t know what is in it. Adherence to the letter and spirit of our state constitution by our leges is the exception to the rule.

Is there a lege with the political courage to require of his colleagues the same that they require of the young people?

C.B.