Louisiana Happiest State In America: New York Saddest (Full List)

I don't know what criteria this survey used, but it is ridiculous to say that Louisiana is the "happiest" state.  Whatever their criteria, the outcome seems fairly meaningless. Crime, corruption, poverty, poor education, poor health care.  Louisiana ranks at the bottom of most lists. This survey misses the mark!

That's funny, because... being from Louisiana... I'm fairly surprised. It probably has more to do with us being a hardy bunch that, even when things are so horrible that our lives are falling apart and our economy is shit and our crime is up and the average quality of living is better suited to a cockroach, we still manage to find something to party over. We are by no means the happiest state, but we may be the most deluded.

Being from the Lake Pontchartrain area, I have to wonder how much drinking you did down here to convince yourself that "God-fearing people" and the alcoholism, domestic abuse, menial education, bigotry (really, I could go on and on) that result from that "God-fearing" quality are actually good things to find in a culture. Don't get me wrong, I love my state. It's where I was born and raised, and it will always be the place I long for if I should ever leave. What bothers me is when people blindly compliment it. Louisiana and its culture is really a tremendously miserable place to live if you're not a white, middle-class, "God-fearing" individual. That's not a requirement to embrace. Sure, we grin and bear the hardships day in and day out, we party harder than anyone around, but beneath those thin, smiling veneers is a lot of wear and tear that never truly goes away. Louisiana's got a lot of progress to make. We're getting there, at a true snail's pace at that, but I've got hope. In the meantime, this whole "happiest state" BS is more likely a result of too much boozing and plenty of lying to ourselves. If you want to say that you enjoyed your time here, I'll be right there with you, but please don't just sidestep the true nature of things and represent Louisiana as though it is all fun and games and no hitches. It's foolhardy and a lie to yourself. .... And just as a last thought after this ramble, consider this: LA has a high teen birth rate, linked directly to earlier sex, which is often linked to a level of unhappiness or restraint in the home, often due to constricting religious beliefs; our suicide rates given population/suicide stats is really about the same as the states around us (happier? not particularly); LA also ranks among the big boys in illicit drug use, spending and dependence (alcohol included) in addition to a relatively high poor mental health rate and very low education quality, all related in their own way to discontent (either through proof of reality escapism, evidence of poverty, etc.) ... So yeah. We're awesome. Go us. At least the crawfish are good and the moonshine potent.