Do Amendments Turn You On? Maybe if you learned more about them they might. Understanding amendments 1 & 2

Have you ever been excited about amendments on election ballots? No? Me either. They’re just not sexy. And they’re written in the most horribly obtuse language. But they’re essential, so we’re forced to deal with them.

On October 14th, 4 of them are on your  ballot. Let’s take a look at the first 2.  In honor of the direction this state will most likely go in after the governor’s race, we’ll start backwards.  Amendment 2 is up first. Oh, and for future references,

🙋🏾‍♂️ = ?

🤷🏾‍♂️ = beats the sh#t out of me

Understanding Amendments 1 & 2

Amendment 2:

Do you support an amendment to provide that the freedom of worship in a church or other place of worship is a fundamental right that is worthy of the highest order of protection?

🙋🏾‍♂️

• What on earth does the “highest order of protection” mean?
• Doesn’t Freedom of Religion already have the highest order of protection by virtue of it being a right?
• What “highest order” will be appealed to here? The Lord? Jesus? A cosmic court? A tribunal of angels?
• “Other place of worship”? Like what, the river? Wait, is this all about Lauren Daigle and that religious revival on the river she just happened to stumble upon by Jackson Square while we all were supposed to be social distancing during COVID? (Jesus, Nungesser, get over it.)
• Why is “church” given distinction over other places of worship?
• Would Freud call that a slip?
• Is it an involuntary admission that this amendment is meant to pander to the conservative, right-wing Christians?
• Or is it actually meant to be blatant?

Related: Dear Congress: Save TikTok

Context:

This amendment was born out of COVID when pastor Tony Spell of the Life Tabernacle Church and other COVID deniers made a big stink out of being told they had to stay away from their churches to help stop the spread of COVID. Spell decided he’d rather not and continued having services until he was arrested. A court eventually cleared him on appeal after he argued that Jesus is just as essential as milk. His logic was that if people were allowed to assemble at the grocery store, then they should be allowed to assemble at church too.

Understanding Amendments 1 & 2

More context:

Freedom of Religion, like the Right to Bear Arms, is already held in high regard by a judicial standard called strict scrutiny. This means the state has to jump through all kinds of special hoops to infringe upon these rights.

Maybe this highest order lingo is being inserted to ensure that there’s one more extra hoop to jump through. 🤷🏾‍♂️ It’s up to you and your ballot to decide if it’s needed or not.

Amendment 1:

Do you support an amendment to prohibit the use of funds, goods, or services from a foreign government or a nongovernmental source to conduct elections and election functions and duties unless the use is authorized by the Secretary of State through policies established in accordance with law?

🙋🏾‍♂️

• So is China somehow interested in funding our local parish races? What about Russia, Iran, North Korea, The People’s Republic of The Congo?
• Does a no mean that one day our elections could be sponsored, as in a heading on the ballot that says this election is being brought to you by Dr. Pepper? Or is this more about Dr. Zuckerberg or Dr. Soros?
•  Is this amendment an admission that human beings are completely corruptible when it comes to money and that any attempt to deny or resist this will result in the end of democracy as we know it?
•  In one breath, the amendment bans the funds outright. In another, it says the Secretary of State could accept them “in accordance with law.” Does this “accordance with law” mean future legislative sessions will be fought over which partisan exception is allowed?
• Does a no mean that one day a church could sponsor an election? (Pay attention Tony Spell.)

Context:

This is another COVID baby. During the COVID elections a Mark Zuckerberg (the Facebook dude) backed group went around giving grants to help provide hand sanitizer, masks, and other supplies for election workers. The thought was that this would help the elections run smoother and get more people out to vote. Of course, Republicans don’t like it when more people get out to vote because they usually don’t vote for them. So hence the amendment. If passed, Louisiana would join 20 or more other states that have passed some sort of ban on private funds.

More Context:

There’s a dollar, and there’s a string. In politics, it has been repeatedly shown that you can’t have one without the other. It’s up to you and your ballot to decide if we’ve evolved or if masks and hand sanitizer today would lead to corruption tomorrow 🤷🏾‍♂️.

Understanding Amendments 1 & 2

Have fun on October 14th, election day. It just might be exciting.