Jackson Free Press

The governor and his loyal cabal of "Stepford senators" seem to believe that Mississippians are stupid. And they sure want to keep us that way.

Even the corporate media outlets have caught on to how much of an unrelenting ideologue our governor is: I mean when the Sun Herald capitol reporter accuses senators of "Stepford"-like behavior (see page 6) and Clarion-Ledger columnist Sid Salter starts calling your arguments "bull," you know something is up.

The problem, of course, is that Gov. Haley Barbour does not support even adequate public education in the state. And he has too many state senators, and a certain useless lieutenant governor, on a short leash. He says, "no new taxes" and "no full funding"; they said "yes, master." Of course, they have more to lose: Barbour can head back on up to his lobbying firm and cushy restaurant if he loses re-election; many of them don't have the same heady options.

It's as if these guys have signed a loyalty pledge: We will do what the governor tells us. He's important. He knows the president. He dines with heads of corporations who might give us money. He da man.

Meantime, they're selling out the young people and the future of Mississippi. And they're telling lies to do it. Yes, lies. As my Daddy used to say, "If somebody is being a jackass, don't call him a donkey."

The way the anti-educators (or the "regressive right," as our columnist John Sawyer opines this issue about the people trying to undo vital education and poverty programs) are going about this little game to hogtie public education is particularly execrable: They are spreading false rumors that the state is just throwing all sorts of money at education, leaving all these dollars going to waste. Why give districts even more to waste, the talking points say. But this is just wrong. In every way possible.

Salter took the governor and his minions to task Sunday, using facts to explode their myths: "Let's set the record straight on K-12 education funding in Mississippi. The conventional wisdom is that Mississippi has been throwing money at education. Bull." Salter—whose mama was an amazing public-school teacher and one of two women who changed my life—then explained why that strategy is so misleading. He explained how "they" are twisting the numbers and spreading myths to scare folks.

These are grim, and pivotal times, in the state with the foxes trying to hamstring the henhouse. This state has never funded education well enough—and it wasn't until Gov. William Winter (a real man) and then the passage of the Mississippi Adequate Education Program in the 1990s that we even started coming close to funding our school districts at an equitable leve. And, yes, then we started seeing improvements across the board in scores and benchmarks.

But let's really take the comfort gloves off. Why hasn't the state funded public education adequately, and why do certain senators and representatives and governors and lieutenant governors not support full funding? Because they believe most white voters in the state do not want to pay to educate children of color. This, my friends, is the elephant in the classroom.

Now, I think these ideologues don't understand the people of Mississippi. They've been brought up with the conventional, er, "wisdom"—talk about an oxymoron—that the only way they can get votes from white people in Mississippi is to follow the old "southern strategy" that Barbour helped perfect back when he toted water for Ronald Reagan. That is: Don't support policies white voters perceive will benefit black folks more. Then they will reward you by electing you. It might mean you have to go pander to a bunch of racists now and then, but it's worth it. Somehow.

Talk about selling your soul.

I, however, believe the people of Mississippi are bypassing these politicians, and how. We are demanding prosecutions of old race crimes, telling our lawmakers to name highways after Civil Rights heroes, polling in favor of higher taxes (especially on tobacco) to pay for education and health care, and growing past our past. Mississippians are starting to figure out that fighting crime is about a whole lot more than empty rhetoric and yelling and acting a fool: It's about strong schools, fighting poverty, instilling hope, working together and busting the myths. Most of us know full well that anyone who would de-fund public education does not give a damn about preventing crime: They just happen to think it won't strike their neighborhood because maybe they can afford private security.

These politicians need to figure out how to keep pace with the rest of us.

They also need to stop treating the people of Mississippians like we're backward bigots and uneducated morons who can't read the small print when they put out Orwellian-named talking points about how they're "pro-education." We are better than they act like we are: We don't have to agree on every point; we can have different ideas about fiscal responsibility and state's rights; we can choose to worship differently; we can decide what we think are sins.

However, there is one sin that most Mississippians can agree on: Gutting public education is not pro-family, pro-life, anti-crime, intelligent or popular—at least within the borders of this state. We've learned the hard way here what education inequities do for us and our children and our economic development and our reputation and our confidence and our ability to keep the bright children of the state right here at home doing good things.

As we go to press, the standoff is ongoing in the state Legislature. The governor and his lackeys are standing firm, even as many of them avoid eye contact more and more. Barbour is hoping to call another one of his special sessions in which he can use the media to beat up the House of Representatives for not giving him his way once again, and then to get what he and his cigar buddies in Washington want anyway.

I'm betting it won't work this time. The media are finally catching on to the game. And it's time the rest of us tell the good governor to stop treating us like we're fools. The games must end.

Previous Comments

ID

69845

Comment

There is an excellent guest editorial on the gov's tobacco-math in today's Clarion-Ledger.

Author

GDIModerate

Date

2005-04-08T07:21:37-06:00

ID

69846

Comment

A message for Barbour? This hasnít really hit in the media yet. In fact Iíve not seen or heard anything about it in any larger media outlet. Shawn Wally, teacher at Greene County High School, won the special election for Representative to replace Randy ìSell-ya-my-seat-for-a-judgeshipî Pierce. Shawn Wally beat Paul Wally (no relation), Pierceís former law partner, who was heavily favored by Barbour and heavily backed by the Republican Party. Barbour actually spent a day campaigning for Paul Wally the week before the election.

Author

GDIModerate

Date

2005-04-08T10:20:13-06:00

ID

69847

Comment

You're right: That is a GREAT column. Go, Jonathan! I know him, but I didn't know he was doing this.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2005-04-08T11:37:55-06:00