Gov. Bobby Jindal signed a law Tuesday expanding Louisiana’s “conscience protection” for health-care workers beyond abortion, adding several services to the list that employees can refuse with assurances of job protection and legal immunity.

With the backing of social conservatives and religious activists, the administration said the measure is necessary to uphold the individual rights of doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other workers whose personal beliefs might clash with their professional responsibilities.

This is a huge success for the pro-life movement and clearly establishes the Governor’s pro-life bona-fides.  Also, it prevents the tyranny of forcing health care providers to violate their consciences or religious beliefs.  It is actually a libertarian measure that Ron Paul Republicans can support.  Evangelicals can also cheer this on. 

It is also a shot across the bow in the health care debate as it is reportedthat Obamacare will gut this provision as “discriminatory”. 

This bill (HB 517) was chiefly sponsored by Democrat House member H. Bernard LeBas of Ville Platte.

When I ran for House of Delegates (state representative) in 1989, I tried out the Kemp outreach because I believed in it. I spoke at an African-American church (yes a Republican in a primary!) by the invitation of the pastor due to some legal work I did at a discount to establish a museum for a local African-American leader of the 1800s, Jennie Dean. Miss Dean established a school for blacks in Manassas and started three churches (two still exist today). She was a great example of what Christ can do when He gives a person vision. Today, we have two nice places to honor her in Manassas.

I believe that Gov. Jindal is blessed with many of the same qualities that Kemp brought to politics. Although Kemp was a professional athlete in his early years in contrast to Jindal being a state cabinet secretary, university president, federal sub-cabinet officer and member of Congress, both have a great love for ideas. The Kemp-Roth tax cutting bill was a leading impetus that gave the GOP the Presidency and eventually majorities in both houses of Congress. Kemp was also pro-life and somewhat socially conservative. He had a great vision for the fall of communism.

Jindal can make a mark in several areas: one is health care. Louisiana has a charity hospital system that can lend well to experimentation. He made the Health and Hospitals system in Louisiana turn a profit.

Another is prison reform – Jindal’s recent initiative as stated before the Baton Rouge Press Club on April 20 has the potential to be revolutionary:

“The Department of Corrections is partnering with sheriffs in a program to better prepare state prison inmates for release and re-entry into society so they do not become repeat offenders.”

Let me add (in case the Governor reads this blog) – maybe a faith-based prison reform system to reduce recidivism and divert non-violent offenders to other places. Jordan Ballor of the Acton Institute cites a New York study, A Case for Faith-Based Prison Reform, that,

“Inmates who attended 10 or more PF [Prison Fellowship] Bible studies in a year were nearly three times less likely to be re-arrested during 12 months after release.”

And other studies confirm this result.

A third initiative could be reducing the size of state government and lowering taxes. As the governor reported to the Baton Rouge Press,

“Our second major reform initiative is forming a “Commission on Streamlining Government” to examine each state agency’s statutory and constitutional duties in an effort to reduce the size of state government.”

This Commission will make a recommendation to the legislature with a one time up or down vote similar to the base closing commission at the federal level.

Anything Governor Jindal tries to do will be backed up with solid ideas and justifications.

Jindal with his youth and immigrant background will appeal to many voters who may be wary of social conservatives. He also can use his experience as governor to show a governing pattern. Like President Obama, he has a young attractive family and projects well in certain situations. He will be like Kemp a happy warrior, pursuing the clash of ideas without being personal or petty.

Jack Kemp is the past and the future of the GOP – we must expand the base of the party. We can do so without sacrificing social conservative principles. Let us find a person who can explain why we believe what we believe and why it is good for the nation.

I urge Americans to look around you and see: Who is the political leader that people will put their hope and trust in? (I would be derelict if I did not assert that the people of the United States must not put ultimate hope in ANY political leader, no matter how gifted, but rather trust in God and His Son Jesus Christ to deliver and preserve this land!) The person you find is likely to be blessed with many of Kemp’s talents and abilities. Governor Jindal could be that political leader.

I believe that Governor Jindal can be many of those things that evangelicals admire about Huckabee. He has a personal testimony of salvation. Esquire Magazine reports that Jindal was saved as a teen due to the witness of a high school date. He hid his conversion to Christianity from his parents, according to Mike Sager, by studying the Bible in his closet. Jindal is a Roman Catholic who speaks of his faith in terms acceptable to most believers. This quote is telling in an interview with Cal Thomas in World on January 13, 2009:

“I read Rick Warren’s book The Purpose Driven® Life right after I lost my first election in 2003, and one of the main lessons I got out of that was keeping the eternal perspective. If we truly believe what we read in the Bible and hear in our churches there are a lot of things we worry about in life that aren’t that important from an eternal perspective.”

…”Second, viewing the sanctity of life, I believe the reason people are valuable is that they are created in the image of God and there’s a dignity there. And that leads me to believe people should have access to health care, not because of policy reasons, but because they’re valuable because we are created by God in His image.”

Jindal also brings other strengths to the political table that should make him attractive to Christians. He favors fairness in science teaching to allow non-religious teaching of intelligent design in schools. Jindal also is pro-life and against federal funding of embryonic stem cell research. He also has standard conservative positions on issues near and dear to believers.

Furthermore, Jindal’s immigrant roots and tremendous accomplishments should encourage others to achieve their dreams. Whether Gov. Jindal ever serves in the White House or not, he will put a new face on conservative politics. Evangelicals should support him in his efforts to reform Louisiana and pray for Governor Jindal regularly.