Dear Editor:
I am an independent voter and enjoy political discussion. Recently a Cole County writer (Democratic Committeeman for Marion Township) to the editor of the News Tribute shared in a series of letters his views of Mississippi.
A discussion concerning Mississippi lacks relevancy to most Missourians especially when there are substantial national issues with greater importance.
If the writer's intent is to praise liberals (Democratic Party) and bash conservatives (Republican Party) in his series of letters on Mississippi, he has set up a straw man comparing Mississippi and Massachusetts. His logic concerning Mississippi is significantly weakened since the Democratic Party governed Mississippi, except for a brief period during reconstruction, until more recent decades.
If the Republican Party had governed Mississippi instead of the Democratic Party, the results today for Mississippi could be vastly different. Mississippi has had 55 Democratic governors and six Republican governors. Massachusetts has had 19 Democratic governors and 31 Republican governors.
I note that it was the Democratic Party in Mississippi and other southern states that had Jim Crow laws and the evils of segregation.