Jackson Free Press

It was a big week for proclamations by the Clarion-Ledger's editorial staff, with two doozies coming the same day. In his Nov. 24 column, editorial director David Hampton said of Third District Rep. Chip Pickering: "[T]his election was a crossroads event for his career; he is now pretty much politically bullet-proof. Except for some drastic redistricting, he likely will be in Congress as long as he wishes."

Meanwhile, Perspective editor Sid Salter had an even heavier-handed prediction for legislators that didn't support tort reform: "[T]heir continued inaction is going to cost so many of them their jobs come the 2003 general election."

Such proclamations by our USA Today-owned daily newspaper overlook the fact that we, the voters, can determine just who is in office for life and who goes home in 2003. Both columnists are essentially arguing that the status quo is a king that the citizenry is powerless to redress. In the face of the dual machines of special interests and big business, there's no hope for the little guy. Apathy and powerlessness are encouraged.

We disagree. We feel strongly that this most recent election was about three basic factors, and none of them suggests that what happened two weeks ago has set the stage for Things To Come For All Time. Those factors were:

1. People are afraid of terrorism, pure and simple. They voted for hawks because they feel these are hawkish times. We'll see how that approach plays out, but it's one with which we disagree.

2. A lack of alternatives resulted in poor turnout among progressive and younger voters. Candidate choice is limited by who could draw and spend the most "soft money." Turnout for this race is approximated by the Mississippi Secretary of State's office at 33 percent of voting age adults—sadly, that may be a record high in Mississippi for an off-year congressional election. It's way, way too low, and we believe many of those additional votes would be for populist candidates—if any such candidates emerge to excite those voters.

3. Money won. According to OpenSecrets.org, Sen. Thad Cochran spent $1.17 million running virtually unopposed because it's too expensive to lose to such a well-healed incumbent. Pickering spent a whooping $2.65 million; Shows $1.2 million.

Hampton says that Pickering should attempt to establish himself as "his own man." While we hope for McCain-like fire from the junior Pickering, we doubt very much any new identitiy will be established—Chip is a proven follower. Whether it will take "drastic redistricting" or just shorter Bush coattails to send Mr. Pickering back to his family farm remains to be seen—but we wouldn't put every county in District 3 in a Republican lockbox quite yet.

Likewise, the notion that state representatives will be sent packing thanks to their votes on tort reform sounds more like wishful thinking from Salter. His argument doesn't take into account the fact that the tort-reform battle was waged between massive interest groups, not individuals. Business lobbies will continue to malign trial attorneys, but in our experience, attacking attorneys is a non-starter for politicians—it's difficult to imagine Joe Citizen taking seriously a politician who calls an attorney sleazy. People may bring home the politicians who spent an extra $1.2 million on this tort-reform special session, but the rest is hyperbole reminiscent of a U.S. Chamber of Commerce strategy memo.

The core problem is that the Democratic Party has lost sight in recent years of what its constituency cares about: actual compassion (not "compassionate conservatism," which is simply a marketing label); getting people above the poverty line; improving public education; and maintaining individual freedoms (the whole Bill of Rights, not just the 2nd Amendment). We'll be watching the Democrats to see if they can offer a populist message that resonates with real Americans between now and the next election.

Regardless of what the Democrats do, independent-minded progressives can come together to change this state. We can become more concerned, responsive and hopeful. Of course, we'll have to do it without as much money—that's what the status quo has, and it's what they're not about to give up. And we'll have to do it without much help from corporate media—they're a little too busy nursing their profit margin to do much more than back the political horses that have already crossed the finish line.

Moderate and progressive Mississippians wrongly believe we have no political power. That's what the status quo want us to believe. They want progressive thinkers to leave the state, or to stay at home on Election Day, feeling apathetic.

But it doesn't have to be that way. We can build a cross-generational, multi-racial coalition of creatives, workers and professionals who want a stronger voice in the state. And we can do that by taking a grassroots, civic-minded, politically involved approach to improving our neighborhoods, communities and the state and nation around us.

Start today. Shop local, register to vote and read what your representatives are doing and write them to encourage or redress their action. Then, prepare for 2003. We've got work to do, but as a group, concerned Jacksonians are strong enough and powerful enough to make it happen.