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Louisiana’s Disproportionate Libertarian Impact

I suspect that the predominate source for libertarian luminaries and names are New York and California, plus other larger states. But–and hailing from the bayou state, I could be biased–it’s long seemed to me that Louisiana is oddly over-represented in modern libertarian thinkers, especially among the Austro-anarchist Rothbardian type. This is especially odd given that the state is arguably the intellectual armpit of the nation in many ways. Off the top of my head, here are some of the young or older libertarians–mostly hard-core types–from Louisiana or who do or have lived there:

*=believed to be a non-native.

I would not be surprised if Louisiana was close to a good 3rd place after California and New York, when by all rights it ought to be in the bottom fifth. (Okay, maybe 4th place, after Alabama—but that’s due almost exclusively to the presence of the Mises Institute in Auburn.) Now I could be wrong that Louisiana’s influence is disproportionate, but it sure seems like it to me. (If you have other names to add to the list, send ’em on.) But assuming this phenomenon is real, the question is–why? I have no good explanation. Must be a fluke. But an odd one. It’s one of the few things that makes me proud to be a Louisianan!

Update: Manuel Lora tells me that Manuel Ayau, R.I.P., got an EE degree from LSU in the 1950s.

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{ 4 comments… add one }
  • John Aynesworth July 31, 2009, 8:32 am

    How about James U. Blanchard?

  • Robert Gaffney August 3, 2009, 9:55 am

    I don’t think I’m very notable, but I fit very nicely into the above-mentioned categories!

    I actually stumbled on to this post wondering the exact same thing. Seeing your references to LA law on Mises.org, I headed to wikipedia to see if you were additionally from LA. Sho’ Nuff!

  • John Aynesworth August 3, 2009, 1:00 pm

    Another name has bubbled to the top of my increasingly unreliable memory–Eric Mack of Tulane’s philosophy department.

  • J. Wiltz September 12, 2010, 4:53 pm

    It doesn’t surprise me, really. The libertarian distrust of government/taxes/authority/etc. runs deep in the South. Many Southerners just don’t REALIZE they’re libertarians yet.

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