January of 2008 was to have been the dawn of a new era for Louisiana. Bobby Jindal was inaugurated as a reform governor, to bring desperately needed change. For some time before the great hurricanes of 2005, Louisiana had lost the petrodollar windfall that had kept our own form of social populism lubricated. Reality was dawning, we just couldn’t keep doing the same things and hope to keep up with the rest of the New South, and even if we tried to, we just couldn’t pay for them.

But just before Jindal’s time Katrina and Rita brought a reprieve to Louisiana’s old school populists of all political stripes. They brought the prospect of free spending on the Louisiana that was, without the political birthing pains required to change to a Louisiana that should or could be. Making their indiscretions more complicated, politicians spent to a great extent on recurring expenses using one time money. Who cared about how we paid for all the spending growth, after all when the one-time disaster money expired down the road someone else would have to worry about that!

It didn’t take long for reality to set in. By the 2008 gubernatorial election the fiscal milieu was obvious as to what the reality of the end of the one-time largesse meant. Jindal’s promise to the people? He would not increase taxes to maintain the spending engorgement, and they lifted him into office. Though his turned out to be a flawed process, for four years he kept his promise and the people showed appreciation by re-electing him with 71% of the vote.

As he entered his sixth year, crippled by his own mis-guided pursuit of personal fame and ambition, he became an easy target for a re-energized bureaucracy and media who gaslighted the people with the old something-for-nothing mentality of Louisiana Longite populism. Under this assault from the media and the left, his popularity polling sank into the 20s and he left office with a failed reputation.

Such was the history of reform in the early 21st century. Perhaps the worst outcome was that the lingering damage caused by Jindal’s popularity decline made way for a free-spending John Bel Edwards. Edwards, an old school Huey Long populist who never met a tax increase he didn’t like, shielded his status quo administration from claims of mediocrity with exploding spending. He spent to sustain government as usual, with results as usual. Now, in eight short years the budget has exploded, with much cleverly locked up so that without fierce determination fiscal transformation will be difficult.

Looking back, what went wrong and what must the new governor do in order to avoid the Jindal effect? In an immediate sense the forces of the left, the media, and bureaucracy, all already are attacking him, attacks that will only grow in ferocity. But benefitting his chances, unlike Jindal, governor elect Jeff Landry has what should be a solid legislative mandate to support his efforts. The question will be whether he uses that mandate in a productive way by focusing on core fundamentals, education, infrastructure, constitutional reform, economic attractiveness, public safety, and avoids the trap of social issues.

To those of us that were in the trenches during the Jindal years, we could see the fallacy in Jindal’s policies. We tried to warn him, but seemingly the draw of a far-right national base blinded him to reality.

And that reality? Jindal was right in holding the line against tax increases to fight the bloat of populist government funded by a one-time windfall. But he failed as he was unable or unwilling to reform government in order to make it work within controlled spending limits. In essence the goal was then, and is still now, efficient and effective government, not bloated government in which inefficiency and ineffectiveness is protected by uncontrolled spending.

Jindal flopped because he naively depended upon the bureaucracy to work with him to reform their operations within budgetary restraints. That never was going to happen, and it will not now. The bureaucracy and the lower tier government fiefdoms are amazingly good at protecting their turf. So, we ended up with government as usual, just funded by voodoo economics. A missed opportunity for sure, but a clear warning for those who seek reform.

The key to government reform is to lead citizens to the conclusion that the political philosophy of the past has not served them well, to understand that positive results are not just a direct relationship to increased spending. High goals, management, effective investment (not the phony spending increases that Democrats gaslight us with), accountability, reduced bureaucracy, meritocracy in the workforce, and so on. These are the forces of reform that make for efficient and effective government.

And these are the forces that status quo populists hate.

They hate them because such good government tools take away the power of fear and jealousy exploited with great gaslighting skills by politicians, lobbyists, labor union leaders, and those who just seek to blame everyone except themselves for bad outcomes.

Jindal was right to hold the line on growing revenues; Jindal was wrong not to use ample public goodwill and a crisis atmosphere to reform government.

For now, let’s forget the mistakes of Jindal and the malaise brought on by Edwards. Let’s hope that governor-elect Landry will present a clear vision of restructuring government based upon just efficiency and effectiveness. Let’s hope that his vision, as was Jindal’s originally, doesn’t become diverted by trying to play nice with opponents or because of personal ambition or prejudice.

History will smile upon Louisiana only if an overwhelming amount of leadership skill and political courage are applied. The formidable allies of the status quo are already at work trying to derail the new administration, but by reforming government the rewards of becoming a great governor beckon.

January of 2008 is prologue, as 2024 is upon us. Decades of missed opportunity can be overcome, but only if our new leaders are aware of the history of reform that wasn’t. Leadership that is finally willing to say farewell to all that has retarded our great state in its quest to join the rest of the New South.