Monty Goes Back to the Playbook

Monty Rushgrove has apparently gone back to the standard Dem playbook, and has decided that the way to win is to demonize free trade. Its actually not dumb politics, considering how the furniture industry in North Mississippi has contracted. Of course, he forgets to mention that the president who shepherded NAFTA into law was one Bill Clinton, a Democrat.

It isn't smart, however, since one of the big critics of NAFTA is the union establishment-those beacons of integrity-and Wicker has hit him on union ties, and card-check legislation. Mississippi being a very proud right-to-work state, it's a huge gamble.

Every 30-40 years in North Mississippi the economy is going to change. It's a fact of life. We started out as the poorest of the poor in the US, back when rural life was a symbol of poverty. In the 1930s we started our way out, and developed the dairy industry. By the 1960s the economy had shifted toward manufacturing. Its shifting again, now to more heavy manufacturing like Toyota. This inevitably causes pains for those caught in the change, and Monty is hoping to cash in on that in November.

It should be noted that the saving grace of North Mississippi is our Community College system and its non-traditional education programs. In the early 2000s, the JuCo system was wracked by cuts due to the perilous financial straits the state found itself in. Those cuts were made by one Ronnie Musgrove, Governor. This in spite of the fact that his cheif of staff was a Community College president!