New beginning or last hurrah?
By By Craig Ziemba / guest columnist
Nov. 9, 2003
Haley Barbour is on a roll. Using the same energy, message focus and fund raising prowess he demonstrated when he led the Republican Party to an historic takeover of the U.S. House of Representatives in 1994, he has captured the traditionally Democratic stronghold of Mississippi as well.
It brings to mind a scene in George Orwell's Animal Farm the morning after the livestock had expelled Mr. Jones and seized control of the operation:
Handwriting on the wall
How Haley Barbour governs, especially during the first year of his term, will determine whether this will be a new beginning for Republicans in Mississippi or the last hurrah. This week's election notwithstanding, the demographic handwriting is on the wall. If Republicans don't quickly persuade minority voters that less government, not more, is the answer to Mississippi's problems, then our future will tilt decidedly toward socialism.
Today, large numbers of core Democratic voters are politically homeless. Many Christians, particularly blacks, who are uncomfortable with the Democratic Party's position on moral issues, are still suspicious of the Republicans they were raised to distrust.
But if Barbour can make minorities feel welcome in the Republican Party and show that he has the courage to take on waste and corruption in government, conservative Democrats will switch parties in droves.
A quick look, though, at the recent history of those 1994 congressional Republicans shows that political change is an uphill battle. GOP freshmen came to Washington full of hope and idealistic zeal to cut taxes, shrink government, save Social Security through privatization and free market enterprise, and bring parental choice to public education through school vouchers.
Ten years later, many conservatives who were John Waynes on the campaign trail turned out to be Barney Fifes in office. While they were able to reduce taxes, they refused to curb the growth of government spending and have shown the same proclivity for pork that they once condemned in their predecessors.
Bucking the trend
How can Haley Barbour buck this national trend of capitulation and compromise and win the trust of disillusioned Democrats? It won't be easy. The governor's office in Mississippi is constitutionally very weak. The main power a governor has lies in his willingness to use the bully pulpit to influence public opinion and thereby pressure the Legislature to act.
In his victory speech Tuesday night, Barbour made it clear that he will do everything in his power to reform our tort system and to make sure that America knows Mississippi is once again open for business. He could go even further in cleaning up our courts by highlighting the inherent conflicts of interest present when trial lawyers contribute large sums to judicial candidates (or even worse, when they guarantee personal loans and extend financial favors to sitting judges).
A governor cannot single-handedly reform the judicial system, restore discipline to schools, or bring honesty to our governmental institutions. But by giving legislators an example of integrity in office and vocally fighting corruption wherever it's found, Haley Barbour can send a powerful signal that the times are changing and that the good old boy system, which has held us back for so long, is on its way out.
Craig Ziemba is a pilot who lives in Meridian. His book,
