BRIAN PERRY/Fight cynicism in 2015
Nationally, this is an off-year election. Kentucky and Louisiana join Mississippi in holding some state elections the year prior to a presidential election (while New Jersey and Virginia hold elections in an off-year, the year following a presidential election). I had always heard Mississippi’s practice of off-year elections was a post-Reconstruction strategy to conduct elections separate from federal elections to minimize federal involvement. But off-year elections in Mississippi can be traced back to the earliest days of statehood, well before the Civil War or post-war policies (very well as a result of the mathematics of terms rather than a calculated national political strategy).
So for political junkies in the Magnolia State, your spotlight can be here at home rather than around the country. (That isn’t to say 2016 presidential and senatorial campaigns have not begun in earnest – they have.)
The political year is about to move fast. Primaries are seven months away but the deadline to decide to run is in two months.
When it comes to politics, it is easy to be cynical and easy to joke about our elected officials. But to make a change, get involved: you might not be running for office but if you find someone you believe will be good for government, support them and fight the cynicism. We get the government we deserve.
Madison County Journal
12/30/14
