The pathway to political hell is paved with bad intentions. Consider, for example, the decision by Gov. Jeff Landry’s administration to reject federal Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) funds that would have given low-income Louisiana families money to feed their kids over the summer.
It reflects the sort of cruel policy decisions we and others warned Landry would make once elected, and it will achieve nothing good for Louisiana. It will, however, punish children and families simply for being poor.
There is zero public benefit in stripping poor families of much-needed money, let alone in starving their children. It doesn’t foster a sense of responsibility, nor does it encourage families to pick themselves up by their mythical bootstraps, as Landry has claimed.
The very idea that children will learn “responsibility” by going hungry for three months is beyond absurd. Were it not so monstrously cruel, it would be clownishly laughable. But this is no laughing matter. Children will suffer.
So, let’s call this decision what it is: the Landry Doctrine.
Moreover, the Summer EBT program is a proven success. It helps families nourish their kids during the summer, and good nutrition improves kids’ ability to learn. That makes it a wise use of state funds.
The program has additional benefits. For conservatives who preach the “rising tide lifts all ships” economic gospel, it means more money spent at local grocery stores — some $130 million in added economic impact.
Supporters of the Landry Doctrine say the decision to reject Summer EBT funds will save the state about $2.5 million in administrative costs. That view only considers the program’s relatively small cost, not its enormous benefits.
The $2.5 million “savings” is, um, small potatoes compared to the more than $71 million in federal funds the program would bring to the state — and hardly worth the harm Louisiana will inflict upon around 600,000 of its poorest children.
The decision becomes even more illogical considering Landry’s plan to send 150 National Guard troops to the Texas-Mexico border — at a cost of at least $3 million. And for what? The Louisiana National Guard has no business patrolling that border, and its presence there will provide no economic benefit to Louisianans.
Quite the contrary, in fact. Forcing 150 working men and women who belong to the Guard to leave their jobs and their families will do great harm to them, their employers and their families.
Only one person will benefit from such political showboating: Landry, who seeks to elevate his national profile among conservatives and is willing to waste taxpayers’ money to achieve that goal.
These two decisions are eerily reminiscent of the kind of short-sighted, cruel policies implemented by another Louisiana governor who was more concerned with his national profile than the welfare of his constituents: Bobby Jindal. He left office as one of America's worst-rated governors and flopped as a presidential candidate.
If he won’t reverse course, Landry should at least find ways to help local governments access EBT funds. Otherwise, he will be destined to follow Jindal down the pathway to political hell.
And deservedly so.
Where Louisiana's at in the re-districting fight.
