A Louisiana Woman's view of Politics...

To be honest, I never cared for politics until just a few years ago. I was a Democrat, because everyone down here was born Democrat. I became interested in politics when Jindal ran for governor, the first time. After Katrina I changed my voter registration to get that D out from behind my name. But that's "anutha story".

I always thought politics to be a dirty business. Well, I live in Louisiana, where we bury our dead above ground just 'cause it's easier to get them out to vote on election day.



A bit of good news!! One of our former governors just got out of prison last week!

I remember my granddaddy saying that if Jimmy Davis would come around and sing "You Are My Sunshine", (he wrote it you know), that everybody in the state would vote for him and never even ask him about a policy, a road, a bridge, nothing. We just really like that song down here, I guess.

That old saying about "half of Louisiana is under water and the other half is under indictment"... well... it's mostly true. Then there's this joke that my sister loves, "What do you call the well dressed politician in Louisiana"? Ready... are you ready for this...? "The Defendent"!!! ROFL Funny huh?

Our end of year trip in the 8th grade was that we got to go to Baton Rouge and see the building where Huey Long was shot. Yes, we still have many bullet holes in the wall of our Capitol building in Louisiana. It reminded me of "The Untouchables" show that my daddy used to like so much, all those bullet holes sprayed on the wall. You cannot miss the Louisiana Capitol Building, it's the tallest thing in Baton Rouge. What? Ya'll don't have gun fights in your Capitol buildings in your states? I guess we're just more passionate down here, they say it's the heat you know.



There is a lot to say about Huey Long and his brother Earl, (the one who was "touched" in the head). I have a good friend who is related to them though so, I won't say it. Well, I will say this one thing. A quote that has always stuck with me was from a nurse who was with Huey in the hospital after he was shot. She said he was asking for ice water and she gave it to him because she figured where he was going, he would really appreciate and need it. Well, that is kind of tacky but, she said it, I saw the interview with her on LPB.

I used to joke that Louisiana was the first third world state. After I began to pay attention to politics, I decided a lot of that "third worldness" was because the Democrats had ruled down here for generations.

Althought most of Louisiana was Democrat since the War of Northern Agression (Civil War for you Yankees), we are changing. Many have changed to Republican after Katrina. I have an aunt (married in) who I love but she said although her mother (who is in her 90's and mostly blind) still votes Democrat. My aunt (her daugher) leads her into the booth and she asks her which level for all Democrat and... she pulls it. It's harder for some of these old folks to change. I mean think about it, for 60 years or more some of these people just walked in and pulled the "All Democrat" lever. Easy as pie!! Then they would go listen to "You Are My Sunshine" and talk about the Long boys and how much they did for the state. And what Huey would have done if he hadn't been shot in a hail of gunfire in the Capitol Building and what his brother might have done had he not gone.. you know.. off the deep end.

I realize a lot of people think of Louisiana as a Red State because we've voted Republican for some of the past presidential elections but I can explain that too. You see Louisiana is like 2 or 3 different countries. Basicaly we're divided between North and South Louisiana. The line, as near as we can tell, goes East and West through a little town called Bunkie, a little South of Alexandria. Bunkie and below is South Louisiana and everything above Bunkie is North Louisiana.


North Louisiana has a lot of red necks. Some very good people, and hilariously funny. You just can't get much funnier than red necks. This is the traditional Bible belt.

South Louisiana is primarily Cajun. Actually there is a division there between Cajun and Creole, South East and South West Louisiana. But the majority of South Louisiana is Catholic. New Orleans is it's own place.

So for several presidential elections, all the Democrats could really come up with was abortion and gay marriage. The Catholics won't ever vote for abortion and the red necks won't vote for gay marriage. I'm just saying is all. So that's why Louisiana has been red in some past presidential elections. But even so, until Katrina, most people here loved their state and local Democrats. Of course, we've had one of the most corrupt state governments in history but, we all looked on that with a kind of humor.

I mean, our corrupt politicians have provided us with a lot of amusement (and some embarrassment) and we grew up with it, it was just part of living in Louisiana.

Okay, before somebody asks, yes, we also had David Duke. The most embarrassing moment for us. Can you imagine what it's like to be working with people all over the US and be from Louisiana and have them ask you about Duke? I'm talking very embarrassing. So when it came time to vote in that particular election, I voted against Duke.

You're going to make me say it aren't you? I voted for the guy who just got out of prison last week but, can you blame me? I mean, how did we end up with a choice between the guy who was going to go to prison or Duke? How does something like that happen?

Anyway, that little crisis out of the way, I settled down to ignoring politics anymore for a few more years.


We have a rich and "colorful" history down here in Louisiana, especially when it comes to politics. And no.. "colorful" does not have anything to do with race. "Colorful" is a nice way of saying many of us are a little different. We sort of follow our own drum. At least that's what my Yankee friends tell me. They are fond of saying how "colorful" I am.

I don't mind at all. Several of them still call me from time to time under the ruse of checking on me and inquiring as to my general health. I know what they're doing, they just want to hear me talk. When I'm up there, I use my very best Yankee understandable accent. But when I'm down here, I slide back into the southern drawl and sometimes people tell me they need an English interpreter to understand what I'm saying.

I love being an old Southern woman so it's all okay with me.

At any rate, when I changed from Democrat I had to choose something. I probably should have chosen Independent just to make them all wonder how I was going to vote. I have a good friend who said I should choose Libertarian. For some reason, I chose Republican.

I began to get mail and stuff from the Republicans. I ignored it. Then I heard on the radio this big ruckus about Michael Steele being put in the charge of the RNC.

Sereiously? Are you kidding? Somebody was "in charge"? I had no idea!! I mean, could ya'll tell anybody was "in charge" of the Republicans? It was quite a shock to me, I'll tell you that for sure.

So that really got my attention, up until that point I didn't realize that the Republicans had any kind of organization at all. But evidently, they have a group somewhere... and.. they decided to put somebody "in charge". I guess that's a good idea. They certainly had not been impressing me with anything they did before they put Michael Steele in charge. So now I had a name and I could sort of watch and listen and see what the person "in charge" did.

I guess I just love disappointment in my life. I rooted for Michael Steele. I looked him up on line and sent him emails to encourage him. I figured anybody who would take over that group and be "in charge" needed all the help and encouragement they could get. I still like Michael Steele. I thought he did as good as anybody could have with that group.

I got a lot of stuff asking for money for Republican this and Republican that. My reply to all these emails and letters? "Show me something, then maybe I'll send money".

Oh, okay, I did send them some money. But I told them I better see something that impressed me real soon.

I'm still waiting and watching the RNC.


As amused as we have always been with our state and local Democrat officials in Louisiana, after Katrina, we weren't laughing anymore. So now the state has begun to change to Republican from within. By that I mean, many Democrats changed to be Republicans. Maybe that's where I got the idea. At any rate, we now have a Republican Governor and for the first time in my life, I'm really proud of our Governor. He is brilliant and amazing and we love being able to say Bobby Jindal is our governor. Of course we're still hoping everyone will forget that little incident with Duke, and Huey Long being shot down in Capitol, and that other Long boy and his um... girlfriend, and the former Governor who just got out of prison, and... well, you get the picture.

We still sing "You Are My Sunshine" but Jimmy Davis is long dead and buried. For the first time in generations I think Louisiana can move ahead. I have hope for the future now that so many are becoming "former Democrats".