Recall the days of the Long dynasty in Louisiana, and especially of Earl Long. Earl Kemp Long just kept on coming back, and coming back, and coming back.
The colorful “Uncle Earl” (so-named because of his relatives, including nephew and U.S. Senator Russell Long) once joked that one day the people of Louisiana would elect “good government, and they won’t like it!”
In his last term in office his wife, Blanche Revere Long (1902–1998), and others attempted to remove him on the grounds of mental instability. For a time, Long was confined to the Southeast Louisiana Hospital in Mandeville, but his legal adviser, Joseph A. Sims, was said to have “rescued” Long from the institution. Long was never formally diagnosed with any mental illness. Commentators have speculated that political opposition may have led the effort to prove him mentally incompetent, including his wife, who resented his connection with Blaze Starr.
If nothing else, Earl was well known for his entertainment value.
So far, the current crop of voters has not yet descended to the level of accepting just about anything, so long as they were entertained.
I remember the Earl Long hospitalization crisis. I was nine years old then, and that was the very first time I became politically aware.
And I’ve heard Earl’s admonition about “good government” all my life. Great laugh line, but totally off base.
I always tell people that we don’t know if we would like honest government in Louisiana, because we’ve never had it.