“The State of Mississippi has been cursed for many years with bitter factionalism,” said Minnie Brewer in her editorial “The Blight of Factionalism.” She said “in fact we have known people so blinded by narrow partisan politics that they would jeopardize the very republic under which they lived or toy with peace of the world. Such partisanship is void of all patriotic principles and common honesty. Patriotism and love of country and home should always stand above all politics. Factionalism in this state has swept many an unworthy person into responsible office where the people were compelled to bear the consequences and pay the price. Factionalism has tended to kill every patriotic impulse. When people are so blinded by factionalism that they are willing to vote for a candidate or a measure simply because it suits their faction, in violation of what they know to be for the good of the country, then their prejudices are ruling them instead of heart or brain.” She said, “if people persist in this course, it will ultimately undermine and destroy the democracy under which we live.”
Minnie Brewer wrote this editorial in 1923 for the Water Valley, MS’s Progress-Itemizer. She was the sole proprietor and editor of the Woman Voter, the official newspaper of the League of Women Voters. She clearly described what some Mississippians today could agree has changed little in the election of our leaders through the division and enactment of policies and laws that further separate the populace, and those politicians blindly following the majority faction.
James Madison stated in the Federalist Papers, No. 10, November 22, 1787, “our governments are too unstable, that the public good is disregarded in the conflicts of rival parties, and that measures are too often decided, not according to the rules of justice and the rights of the minor party, but by the superior force of an interested and overbearing majority…If a faction consists of less than a majority, relief is supplied by the republican principle, which enables the majority to defeat its sinister views by regular vote.”
We will continue to have factionalism in Mississippi with some exceptions as noted recently when the majority and the minority factions reached across the aisle and agreed to name the blueberry as our state fruit. The legislation was promoted by fourth grade students at Mannsdale Upper Elementary School and introduced by State Representative Jill Ford (R). The bill passed both the House and Senate with only one nay vote from the House and the legislation was then sent to Governor Reeves for signature. He said, “I’m very proud of their efforts leading the way on this issue and rallying the legislature to their cause.” Just maybe these students could rally the factious spirits in the legislature to reach again across the aisle and have patriotism, and the love of country and home, to stand above all politics.
Bo Bowen is a Northsider.
