Jackson Free Press

Well, I guess it's official: The Mean Season is upon us.

As the general elections draw closer, the rhetoric among the candidates has grown from biting to downright nasty. Accusations, insinuations and personal attacks thicken the air like the clouds of summer gnats that, thankfully, have gone on to wherever gnats go. And no one seems to be spared this season, including the candidate's spouses.

Somebody tell me: Since when did having a younger and attractive wife become an important issue in a candidate's qualification to govern?

There was a time when, if a man married a younger attractive woman, there may have been some comment—"That lucky dog!" for example—but ultimately it was considered his and her business and left alone.

Until recently, that is.

Currently, one of the hot national news stories is the personal attacks on Jeri Thompson, wife of Republican presidential hopeful, former Tennessee senator and occasional actor Fred D. Thompson. In an attempt to disparage his character, Thompson's opponents recently referred to his younger attractive spouse as "a trophy wife," as though that were some indication of a lack of intelligence and a less-than-savory character on her part, and therefore an indication of poor character on his.

Sound familiar? It should. On the local front, our own Gov. Haley Barbour employed similar rhetoric in his comments about the wife of his opponent, John Arthur Eaves Jr., at the Neshoba County Fair.

OK, maybe I'm missing something here. But what has the age and physical attractiveness of Eaves' or Thompson's spouses have to do with anything?

Maybe I'm politically naive, but I thought the gubernatorial election was an opportunity for the people of Mississippi to elect a person to govern this state on our behalf, represent our interests and work to improve the overall quality of life of all of its residents. The period before the election is the opportunity for candidates to inform us of how they plan to do just that.

I don't see what slamming a guy's wife has to do with any of the aforementioned. It's nasty, mean-spirited and just plain out of line. Time was that was clear grounds for a punch in the nose. Now, it's called campaigning. I think We-the-people are much poorer for it.

The term "family values" has been bandied about a lot, especially in commercials for Republican candidates. But I'm starting to wonder whose family they are talking about. One of the core values I learned as a kid growing up was this: Protect your family; respect the next guy's. These attacks show an appalling lack of respect for family. I find myself wondering, if a candidate will attack a man's family to get elected, what will keep him from attacking mine once he is in office?

The state of Mississippi has some real challenges ahead of it and issues that need solutions. We have a crumbling infrastructure, loss of jobs, and are losing our best and brightest at a truly heart-sickening rate. And, if you haven't noticed, the stress is causing us to turn on each other in more and more savage ways.

This is our future at stake. We can't afford campaigning as usual. We need vision. We need solutions. Not just for portions of our citizenry, but for everyone.

I'm going to have to take a good long look at the oath of office for our elected officials. Right now I don't know, but I'm pretty sure that it states some place that the person elected represents all of the people of the state, city or town under the purview of that office. Not just the Democrats. Not just the Republicans. Not just the third or fourth party to which the candidate happens to belong.

As partisan in-fighting grows nastier and nastier, a harbinger of even more ugly things to come before Election Day, I hope the candidates remember the following: If you are elected, for all intents and purposes you cease to be a member of a political party when you take that oath. From that point until your last day in office, you are a representative of the people of this state. All of the people, regardless of party, creed, color, sex or whatever other way you care to categorize them. You carry their hopes, their dreams and their future for the next four years. You are mandated to do your very best to ensure that they are provided the opportunities to live a safe, healthy and productive life. No interests come before that. Not your party's. Not your campaign donors. None.

It is not your job to advance the agenda of your party—it is your job to lead us, all of us, to a brighter tomorrow. If you don't think you can do that, you should find something else to do. We just can't afford you. The stakes are simply too high.