If you haven’t heard of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), consider yourself lucky. Their purpose (at least as I understand it) is to label people and organizations as “hate groups” so that others feel morally justified in viciously attacking them. Sounds like a great bunch of folks, right?
So, imagine my surprise when the Southern Poverty Law Center mentioned Citizens for a New Louisiana. In a rambling article (which I admittedly didn’t read in its entirety), it suggested (through hearsay) that our work, exposing wasteful spending of taxpayer money in Louisiana, was somehow racially motivated. Ç’est what?
Here’s a pull quote:
One thing she saw was the rising, far-right influence of Michael Lunsford and his organization, Citizens for a New Louisiana, which sought to stop drag story hour.
It reminds me of that meme, “Have you ever heard a rumor about yourself and actually wanted to hear more? Like… what did I do next?” Intrigued, I kept reading.
Citizens for a New Louisiana was instrumental in a campaign that saw the Lafayette Parish Public Library lose one of its [four] tax millages in 2018, severely curtailing its operation. It has also been involved in library battles in two other Louisiana parishes, Livingston and St. Tammany. But its influence can also be seen in the actions of the library board in Lafayette.
There’s a Heritage Foundation connection, too?!?
The article stretches to connect us to the Heritage Foundation in a Six Degrees of Separation kind of way. To be clear, we’re completely independent. While our worldviews may sometimes align, our mission is Louisiana-focused, rooted in holding local government accountable for tax-and-spend decisions. The Heritage Foundation, on the other hand, operates on a national and international level.
Our involvement test is relatively simple: if you knew your government was doing X, would they stop doing it? If the answer is yes (or at least they should), we bring it to our readers’ attention. Our mission is to shine a light into Louisiana’s dark corners of government. Pretty straightforward, right?
Yes, Heritage Foundation President Dr. Kevin Roberts is from Lafayette and has voiced support for our work. I’ve even shaken his hand, as I have many others. But why does SPLC care?
Hyperbole and projection – the tools of our legacy media.
The SPLC article claims that the library board did away with Black History Month. That would make everybody a racist, right? The only problem? The board never voted to do any such thing. The Advocate, a Louisiana-based newspaper struggling (mightily) for readership, fabricated the entire scenario. Why?
Because nobody would care that the library director (who holds an MLIS degree) chose to move sexually explicit books out of the children’s section. Most reasonable people across the political spectrum assume that was already the policy. But if activists could frame it as a racial issue, it would create chaos. That would pull an enraged black community into a fight against the board, which activists already hated.
And that’s exactly what happened.
Legacy media picked up the activist-manufactured outrage, creating an angry mob that stormed library board meetings for months. One unnecessarily rowdy meeting led to another, playing right into activists’ hands. They lied about race to create chaos, then blamed the board for it. A compliant media followed right along.
Think about it. The press didn’t just cover a controversy. It created the “news” out of whole cloth. Over and over, ad nauseam. If that’s how the media operates, why wouldn’t SPLC fall for the same activist spin?
Morally Justified Behavior.
This is where it gets dangerous. Once someone is branded with derogatory adjectives (racist, bigot, homophobe, etc.), it’s open season. To illustrate this point, check out this 30-year-old video of John Cleese describing, with incredible precision, what we see in today’s politics.
If you want to feel good, become an extremist! If you join the hard Left, they’ll give you their list of ‘authorized enemies…’ If you’d rather be an extremist on the hard Right, no problem! You still get a lovely list of enemies, only they’re different ones.
And here’s the kicker:
Now, once you’re armed with one of these lists of enemies, you can be as nasty as you’d like and still feel that your behavior is morally justified.
This is the game SPLC plays. If they disagree with you, they paint you as an extremist so others can attack you without guilt. And they’re not even disagreeing with us—they’re parroting activist fabrications of what we represent. Like The Advocate, SPLC didn’t even bother calling to verify the claims.
Lawfare, Swatting, and Other Forms of Violence.
It doesn’t stop at online smears. This plays out whenever someone with a weak argument resorts to projecting something terrible onto their opponent.
Look no further than our exclusive coverage of the fake text messages designed to damage Brach Myers’ Senate campaign. Or Amanda Jones, who, after losing the argument, resorted to lawfare—which backfired by catapulting our work into national news, including USA Today, the New York Times, NBC, NPR, and now, the SPLC.
But it escalates even further. The same “morally justified” mindset leads to violence—real, physical harm. We’ve seen it in firebombed Teslas, the cold-blooded murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, and even the swatting of political opponents—attempted murder by police proxy.
These tactics must end.
As Cleese pointed out, the most extreme ends of the political spectrum justify abuse and violence while believing themselves to be champions of truth. But we all know where this road leads.
The silver lining? Voters are rejecting these tactics. In Louisiana’s recent Senate race, Lafayette voters didn’t fall for it. And even though one arrest has been made, some on the periphery of that campaign still believe they were morally justified in using these illegal tactics.
So here’s the real question: Have you realized that moral superiority is no excuse for dishonesty, harassment, or violence? Or are you still one of the people shouting, “We must stop them at any cost”?
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The DOGE Effect: What If We Cut Waste in Louisiana?
Elon Musk and Donald Trump are slashing waste in Washington, and the whole world is watching. Many have said, “That’s great—but we need to do the same thing in Louisiana!”
What most don’t realize is that Citizens for a New Louisiana has been ‘DOGE before DOGE was cool.’ Our investigatory work exposes government waste, backroom deals, and left-wing slush funds. And when people know what their government is really doing, it stops.
Want proof? Just change a few words:
👉 If you knew your government was funding erotic children’s books, they’d stop doing it.
👉 If you knew your government was sending millions to activist NGOs, they’d stop doing it.
We’ve covered transparency issues for almost seven years. No one else in Louisiana is looking this closely at where your tax dollars are going. Are you fed up with the hundreds of millions of dollars flowing from Louisiana's treasury into the pockets of NGOs and left-wing activists? If so, you’re not alone. But exposing it isn’t enough—we need your help to stop it.
If every reader contributed just $10 a year, we could double our reach. Your support now ensures Louisiana’s conservative future—don’t wait—contribute today!
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