It has been quite some time since the latest entry of the Landmass Times. I have grown weary of all the Russian-Ukraine War news lately and thought it would be nice to cover some Southern news that regular outlets abstain from reporting. Whilst perusing Southern news, I could not help but be drawn to a situation and the state of existence of this series’ namesake: Mississippi. The Magnolia State is not in good shape, economically, socially, and politically. However, the political side of things will be the focus of this article, which is ultimately intertwined with the former two.
Mississippi has arguably the most corrupt state GOP in the Union. It has utterly gutted what was left of the economy since its permanent takeover in 2003. With no attempts made to bring decent working-class-to-middle-class pipeline style jobs to the region, which could benefit the populace as a whole, the GOP simply gets elected en masse to simply sit and do nothing every legislative cycle. This leaves the general natives with nothing to do but rot, build debt, and consume drugs or alcohol. The only real jobs of this type available are quite niche and are in limited supply and often narrow down to nursing, working for an oil company, being a college professor, being a real estate agent, selling insurance, and starting a construction business or some other entrepreneurship. Adding insult to injury, timber companies are allowed to run rampant with the available rural land, and what is left of it is often sold off to out of state actors, all for kickbacks given to state legislators. The available job market is not remotely conducive to the asininely high land prices. Just one acre of rural land in Jefferson County, one of the poorest and lowest populated counties in all of Mississippi, can run from roughly $3,000 to $8,000 an acre, if not more. The economic situation is so dire that neither carpetbaggers wish to move there nor does the younger generation wish to stay. While the lack of carpetbagging may appear as a blessing, it does no good when the GOP unremittingly, recalcitrantly wages a culture war against its own voters.
Social affairs are the ones which hold the most weight. The Mississippi GOP has bent over backwards to ensure the Left has its way with the “most racist state in the country.” The elephant in the room is the new state Magnolia Flag. Utilizing the George Floyd riots as a pretext, the political body simply removed the 1894 Flag without consulting the populace, a lesson they learned after the flag referendum of 2001 in which 65% of the state voted to keep the historic banner. Quickly compiling a replacement flag committee, the current one was the only option available to voters on the 2020 election ballot, a presidential election year. This dishonest move guaranteed a victory for the Left and allowed news outlet to falsely claim the voters willingly relinquished the 1894 symbol. This series of events caused many voters to balk, as Governor Tate Reeves repeatedly promised to allow a genuine flag vote to occur when discussing the issue in the 2019 gubernatorial election race and considering the history most of the Republican legislators have with defending the former state flag. This entire political move was crafted and spearheaded, in a bizarre about-face starting in 2015, by Speaker of the House Phillip Gunn, a Republican, and his accomplice the Republican Lieutenant Governor Delbert Hosemann. Gunn’s endeavors kept in lock step with the precedent set forth by former Republican Governor of South Carolina Nikki Haley in her decision to remove the Confederate Flag from her state’s capital grounds. It is quite ironic how this flag debacle took place in the midst of an obviously manipulated presidential election.
As a side note, the Magnolia Flag lacks much in the way of popularity. Mostly seen in the suburbs, on public property and buildings, and near some businesses, it is quite literally never seen in rural areas or flown by working-class Whites. It is not even common to see within urban Negro neighborhoods. What is also striking is the lack of follow-up on this monumental symbol change. Few, if any, polls, public opinion pieces, or random interviews have been brandished showcasing public support for the flag. The state governing body and local news know just how unpopular this move was. Whether due to the poor design of the new flag and its tacky color scheme or the love of its predecessor, it is not common to see the official flag of the state flown as abundantly as the former, the latter of which often rivaled even the Texas Lone Star Flag for the sheer amount of its public displays.
The most damning fallout of the whole flag affair has been the Mississippi Supreme Court’s (MSSC) overturning of the ballot initiative process. For those who do not know, the ballot initiative process was amended into the state constitution in 1992 and allowed for any hot button issue to be put on the nearest upcoming election ballot if its initiative, should it be approved by the Secretary of State, could muster enough signatures within the given timeframe. Its reason for overturning was that the state’s congressional apportionment cannot effectively support the process and has not done so since 2001. In the 2020 election, an initiative had made it onto the ballot which asked for voters to decide on the legality of medical marijuana, which was passed with overwhelming popularity. Though conjecture, the passage of that initiative could have meant angering Big Pharma in its desperate pursuit to overprescribe unhealthy, often addictive, medicine to everyone. The medical marijuana vote was the basis for the MSSC’s decision on the process, to the dismay of vast swathes of Mississippians on all sides of the political aisle. For the GOP, this moved knocked out three birds with one stone, as it struck down the medical marijuana initiative and ended the growing initiatives in the process of getting signatures for a legitimate flag vote with multiple options, including the 1894 Flag, and a vote for state legislature term limits. The ballot initiative process, though populist in nature and a great tool for the Left as well as the Right, was the only means for actually effecting any popular change or pushing forward gravely needed measures the general population had at its disposal. This effectively cemented a liberal victory, the flag issue, the entire political establishment of the state had been gunning for since at least the early 1990s.
Not all is as hopeless as it seems. There are still hard-working forces and organizations working to elect genuinely conservative legislators, often supported by State Senator Chris McDaniel. Let MS Vote is one such organizer, and a new group known as the Constitutional Conservatives of Mississippi are attempting to build a network designed to help genuine conservatives organize and know exactly who their best options are, something the previous generations neglected to do. Both of these groups have not relinquished the flag fight either. Their members and their social media pages, as well as, the content produced by them are a primary source for this particular article. Though the ballot initiative process is currently being updated via a committee, it would not be unwise to predict that it will not be updated until after the 2023 state elections. The other, most likely option, is that it will be reinstated prior to the election so as to give the GOP the cop out of, “See, we let you have the initiative process back before the election,” while not giving voters time to get enough signatures on their respective initiatives.
Little more may be said of this topic. The state is governed by hostile actors who belong to a party which has been out for its blood since its inception. Their is still hope, but the success of its bearers is patently slim.
“The White people of the South are the greatest minority in this nation. They deserve consideration and understanding instead of the persecution of twisted propaganda.” –Strom Thurmond
You nailed it. But it’s even worse here on the ground. Despite popular belief, Mississippi is liberal heaven, often spear-headed by the local churches, and their forced egalitarianism. The coastal Mississippi is riddled with drugs and homelessness. Go to Ocean Springs MS, you’ll think you are in Portland OR. At Walmart, you’ll see people still wear masks and Karens give you dirty looks for not wearing one. Worse yet, there are plenty of BLM, and Rainbow-designed masks, T-shirts, and car stickers. Little further inland at the local groceries, (conservatively) four out of ten purchase with EBT cards (black or white), everyone is FAT! When the flag issue was concluded I foolishly tweeted to Tate Reeves, that if they come after Beauvoir, The Jefferson Davis Home & Presidential Library, in Biloxi, I will be waiting for them with the gun. But realized after looking at his family photos, he only wants a future for his daughters, and wants to be distanced from any controversy, and God forbid being labeled a “racist.” The local politicians are today more interested in the current Russo-Ukrainian war, and Palazzo wants those “never-ending wars” again. I voted for McDaniel v that airhead Hines, and my friend, native of Missississippi, a Vietnam Vet conservative, was appalled that I supported a “Nazi”.
At the same time, there are great things about under-Development. I love animals, and fewer roads, fewer strip-malls minimal damage to their environment. Just look at the Mississippi from Google Earth, it’s sparsely populated and nature and wild animals thrive.
Amen to the deep woods, rivers and creeks and abundant wildlife and diverse bird population. Chris McDaniel would make a great governor but the BARBOUR MACHINE will need to be broken up.
I beg to differ. South Carolina has the most corrupt GOP