“Originally published in 2006, Mississippi Politics quickly became the definitive work on the state’s political history, campaigns, legislative battles, and litigation, as well as how Mississippi shaped and was shaped by national and regional trends.” While the second edition of the book still shows Mississippi’s gradual change from a blue state to a red state, it also examines the aftermath of Haley Barbour’s re-election campaign in 2007 along with the 2008 presidential elections. The one thing that I found most interesting about this book has nothing to do with its contents but everything to do with the two authors Jere Nash and Andy Taggart. Jere Nash is a well known Democrat who has held many political positions including chief of staff for former Governor Ray Mabus who is also a Democrat. Andy Taggart is a Republican who, like Nash, held several positions including chief of staff for former Republican Governor Kirk Fordice. The fact that they worked well enough together to write a book on Mississippi politics leads me to believe two things. First, I believe that this book is an accurate account of the history of Mississippi politics because it was written by two men who are members of different political parties. Second, I believe that if Nash and Taggart can work together to produce something great, the Democratic and Republican parties of Mississippi can as well.
I think it is interesting how Mississippi made the switch from a “Democratic surety to a Republican stronghold,” but I do think that the transition was foreseeable. In Mississippi during 1950s and 1960s, the political ideology of White Democrats was similar to the ideology of the Republican Party at the national level, not the national Democratic Party. Chapters ...
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...ians should take because it is one that requires commitment and passion.
“We haven’t had a partisan revolution in Mississippi. We’ve had an evolution. In retrospect, it seems like a natural progression, though it didn’t feel like it along the way.” Although Haley Barbour made the previous comments about the rise of the Republican Party in Mississippi, Nash and Taggart point out that his comments can be generalized to every aspect of the Mississippi politics. I agree that over the decades Mississippi politics has evolved, through a slow natural progression, to become what it is today. While the changes have been vast, I agree with Nash and Taggart’s point that producing a substantive change to the future of Mississippi politics will be a battle that is hard fought and one that is led by leaders who are not afraid to push the issue.
Works Cited
Mississippi Politics
In closing, this book informs us on how the Republicans went crazy and Democrats became useless, and how it’s become a problem. The books unfolds the faults of the Republicans and Democrats “behind the scenes”, and made me more aware of the parties today.
...ain the “laid-back” attitude and shy away from social change. The irony of the political divide is the North is now Democratic and the South is Republican.
An issue in Texas today is whether the public have sufficient control over the executive branch of Texas government. Texas has a plural executive, which mean the public not only elects the Lieutenant Governor, but also the Attorney General, Comptroller, Land Commissioner, and Agricultural Commissioner (Benson, Clinkscale, and Giardino 216). These elections add significantly to the “long ballet” that the public can vote for. Some argue that because there are so many to vote for, people cannot adequately vote for the positions. The research and attention needed to stay up to date on the elections can steer people away from voting. Many people vote for the governor and the lieutenant governor because of the title and how high the positions are.
Gibson, Jr, L. T., & Robison, C. Government and politics in the lone star state. (eighth ed.). Pearson.
The Southern Strategy is a product of the rewriting of the memory of slavery and the Civil War. In the election of 1968 Nixon lost the Deep South to Wallace but won the Tennessee and the Carolinas thanks in part to the then burgeoning strategy. Nixon met with former States Rights Democratic Party presidential candidate Strom Thurmond, now a republican senator, and traded a decrease in federal pressure to desegregate southern schools for the senator’s support. Nixon went on to speak about the ‘silent majority’ that stood with him in believing the Civil Rights Movement had gone too far. This strategy propelled Nixon to victory in the border states and secured his nomination to the Presidency. The Southern Strategy further developed in with the candidates and campaigns to follow. The republican party became increasingly socially conservative, operating under the now accepted States’ Rights narrative, and in exchange is able to constantly count on electoral support from the former states of the
This essay examines some topical political matters in the USA. To this end, this essay discusses the three arms of the US government, the functions of each, and how they check and balance each other. The essay further identifies key positions in each of the three arms of government and the constitutional qualifications for each of these positions. Moreover, the essay defines redistricting and gerrymandering and identifies their differences. Based on chapter 4, this essay further identifies districts that are gerrymandered within Texas and analyses how such gerrymandering impacted the 2012 election. The essay also analyses how housing districts are entwined with State and education representation within Texas.
The controversy surrounding the 78th Texas Legislature between the Democratic and Republican Party state representations and senators was that there was an attempt to redistrict the recently redrawn congressional districts. This issue of, “redistricting” was indorsed by the Republican Party. The endorsement of “redistricting,” wasn’t surprising considering that the Republican Party had just won the Texas state legislature for the first time since Reconstruction. The Republican Party’s position on the issue was clear through the statements of Tom DeLay, “Texans deserve representation that reflects their values and believes.” Knowing that the redistricting would result in catastrophic losses for the party, the Democrats apposed the idea of, “redistricting.” The Democrats were so opposed to the idea of, “redistricting,” that they fled to Ardmore, Oklahoma. The justification for the party fleeing was said best in the words of state Representative Jim Dunnam, “We're here in Ardmore, Oklahoma, because the real problems of Texas are budget problems, are school finance problems, are health ...
...t time since Reconstruction. The Democratic representatives and representatives did everything they could to resist this change but it was clear from voting records in the previous election a change in the maps needed to be made. Redistricting following the 2010 census was heavily scrutinized, and after much legal maneuvering resulted in Republicans gaining a slightly larger advantage in the state. It could be argued the original maps were discriminatory in nature because they deliberately grouped many of the minority populations together. Most would agree the interim maps better achieved their true purpose of voting equality and will likely be used going forward. Even though redistricting has been a controversial issue in the state it is a necessary part of the voting process and will continue to ensure voting districts are adapting to the changing the populations.
The United States is trying to move toward a new cultural change in the government where the ideals of North states are overarching the needs of the Southern states. This trend is not favorable for South Carolina because the North does not have the knowledge of what the South needs to succeed. The North is doing whatever it needs to improve its situation without considering the implications of excluding the South from the plans of the future. The South cannot compete with the North trying to unconstitutional take advantage of the South due to their governmental size. The South cannot compete with the Northern supremacy in the government because they are trying to oppress Southern ideas. South Carolina does not have to keep taking the changes that the government is implementing because the North is not helping the South. South Carolina can seced...
Following the end of Reconstruction, the state and local politics of Alabama remained undemocratic. Bourbons that consist of elite, educated Alabamians, had complete control over the state of Alabama. Soon they started to notice change that could affect their power and control of government. There were places in Alabama where black people started to outnumber white people. The Populist Party, which consists of poor farmers and the uneducated, emerged and protested for the use of the silver dollar, tax reform, and direct elections of senators. When the federal courts started to allow southern states to disfranchise ‘ignorant, vicious and the incompetent” voters, the Bourbons started to get inspired. White supremacy triumphed due to the undemocratic methods that were being used such as, having a Bourbon majority, disenfranchisement of the black vote, and the unchanged restrictions of the 1875 constitution.
Schmidt, Shelley, and Bardes. American Politics and Government Today. Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1999, pgs. 325-327.
Both sides desired a republican form of government. Each wanted a political system that would “protect the equality and liberty of the individuals from aristocratic privilege and…tyrannical power.” (404) However, the north and south differed greatly in “their perceptions of what most threatened its survival.” (404) The secession by the south was an attempt to reestablish republicanism, as they no longer found a voice in the national stage. Prior to the 1850s, this conflict had been channeled through the national political system. The collapse of the two-party system gave way to “political reorganization and realignment,” wrote Holt. The voters of the Democrats shifted their influence toward state and local elections, where they felt their concerns would be addressed. This was not exclusively an economically determined factor. It displayed the exercise of agency by individual states. Holt pointed out, “[T]he emergence of a new two-party framework in the South varied from state to state according to the conditions in them.” (406) The “Deep South” was repulsed by the “old political process,” most Southerners trusted their state to be the safeguards of republicanism. (404) They saw the presidential election of Abraham Lincoln, a member of the “the anti-Southern Republican party,” as something the old system could not
When Georgia is on your mind, you are sure to think of the vast agricultural crops that we produces such as peaches, peanuts, cotton, and onions. However, the great state of Georgia is much more than just agriculture. It is the home to many blockbuster films and television shows, corporate businesses, and tourist attractions. Tax breaks and incentives are helping Georgia’s economy. Housing over 250 elected officials in state federal legislation, Georgia has become a major center of political activity. Most of the rural parts of the state votes republican with more urban cities voting democrat. Georgia’s senators are on the first and second terms in office and have a tendency to vote how their constituents would vote. True to its motto, Georgia is a state of wisdom, justice, and moderation.
The redistricting of voting districts is a process that greatly affects political outcome. Redistricting is the process of redrawing voting district boundary lines based on population and “communities of interest.” Each community elects state representatives and congressmen. The representatives elected, whether Republican or Democrat, have a profound impact on what legislation will be brought about and what will be passed. The state legislature is in charge of redistricting in the state of Michigan. This has led to a technique used by political parties to obtain control of a state known as gerrymandering. The effects of gerrymandering have become evident in the state of Michigan in recent years. In an attempt to ameliorate the redistricting
Imagine a historian, author of an award-winning dissertation and several books. He is an experienced lecturer and respected scholar; he is at the forefront of his field. His research methodology sets the bar for other academicians. He is so highly esteemed, in fact, that an article he has prepared is to be presented to and discussed by the United States’ oldest and largest society of professional historians. These are precisely the circumstances in which Ulrich B. Phillips wrote his 1928 essay, “The Central Theme of Southern History.” In this treatise he set forth a thesis which on its face is not revolutionary: that the cause behind which the South stood unified was not slavery, as such, but white supremacy. Over the course of fourteen elegantly written pages, Phillips advances his thesis with evidence from a variety of primary sources gleaned from his years of research. All of his reasoning and experience add weight to his distillation of Southern history into this one fairly simple idea, an idea so deceptively simple that it invites further study.