Mission to Free Louisiana – Make State an Independent Country

If you spend a little time around Basile or Elton or even Boutte or Bunkie you'll realize that Louisiana is "different". It's a good kind of different if you ask most folks. We love our way of life along the bayou and we hate it when "national" politicians attempt to mess up our good thing by introducing policies that we care nothing about.

And while most of us in Louisiana are quite fond of America, its values, and its history, we certainly don't always subscribe to the way of thinking that other parts of the country seem to value. In other words, we are not New York and we are not California. And now one Louisiana religious leader believes it's time for the state to "disassociate" with those states and form our own country.

Free Louisiana was launched on Thursday and it is being spearheaded by Larkin Jackson. Jackson is a youth pastor in Metairie, Louisiana. He and his group believe that Louisiana's consistent ranking at the bottom of lists when compared to other states is the fault of the federal government and its restrictive laws and programs.

Larkin cited issues with the oil and gas industry and recent regulations on LNG as ways federal laws have inhibited Louisiana's ability to grow, prosper, and thrive. He believes young people in the state should have the opportunity to grow up and live in a state where the ability to make a living and the protection of personal freedoms remain strong.

Larkin has launched a website to support his campaign. On that site, you can see a variety of reasons why Larkin and his supporters think the state should become its own sovereign nation. In fact, Larkin believes Louisiana should be leading other "middle American states" to do the same thing.

The site doesn't appear to address concerns that the loss of federal funds for infrastructure, roads, bridges, military protection, and other similar services might bring. There is an FAQ section on the site so it could be that we didn't delve deeply enough for those specific answers. But those kinds of questions would certainly need to be addressed before Louisiana declares itself free of the chaos that is Washington DC.