NOTE: This chapter is copyrighted. No not duplicate in any way. You may make notes. For Mississippians, strongly suggest you buy the book: Mississippi Government and Politics: Modernizers versus Traditionalists, by Dale Krane and Stephen D. Shaffer, University of Nebraska Press, 1992.

Chapter Four

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Public Opinion and Interest Groups

Stephen D. Shaffer

"To some, Mississippi was synonymous with the KKK, lynching, superstition, religious fundamentalism, back-looking, and past-loving." --David Bodenhamer, 1979.¹

"It looks to me like the winds of change have turned into a tornado." -- Speaker of the Mississippi House, Buddie Newman, 1987.²

For many years the conservative social and political views of the average white Mississippian, and the prevalence of status-quo oriented interest groups preserved a very traditionalistic political system. The historical weakness of political parties especially increased the importance of interest groups in the political process.³ With the civil rights movement, television, and demographic changes such as generational change, rising educational levels, and increased numbers of migrants and professionals, the traditional political order found itself under attack. Many citizens acquired more progressive views, fueling the rise of interest groups dedicated to changing the status quo. Such progressive elements sought to increase citizen involvement in the political system. Progressives also sought to improve the quality of life in Mississippi by supporting public education and other social programs.

Public Opinion in a Traditionalistic Society

Economic disadvantage has significantly influenced Mississippi's social and political culture. In such a poor and rural state in which people lack material possessions and cultural opportunities, social institutions like the family, church, and school have historically been very important. As one Mississippi native put it: "The church was undoubtedly the center of our lives--religious, educational, and social... After church came the school. My high school was very small; only eight in the graduating class... What I really had was a sensitive, conscientious tutor who was very much interested in my educational development... Even before church and school was family. In addition to my brothers and sisters, of which there were five, I lived within walking distance of seven aunts and uncles with equally large families, and someone was always visiting one place or the other."⁴

In the small towns and villages that dominate Mississippi, citizens obtain information by swapping gossip and stories about local events. Newspapers in this intimate environment typically serve a bulletin board function by minimizing their reporting of national and international happenings, and by focusing instead on social affairs and sports. Small town newspapers historically protected and promoted the values of Mississippi's traditionalistic society. As late as the 1960s the major statewide newspaper, the Jackson Clarion Ledger, strove to preserve segregation. As the federal government sought to integrate Ole Miss in 1962, one Clarion Ledger columnist wrote in reference to Attorney General Robert Kennedy: "Little Brother has evidently concluded that the South must be forced to abandon its customs and traditions in deference to `world opinion'--especially that of Asiatic cow-worshippers and African semi-savages not far removed from cannibalism."⁵ By the 1980s this traditionalistic orientation of the media had eroded, as television saturated the state and the Clarion Ledger became part of the Gannett national chain. Indeed, the Clarion Ledger won a Pulitzer Prize for its investigative reporting about the problems of the state's educational system. It aggressively pushed the 1982 Education Reform Act by labeling legislative opponents as candidates for a "Hall of Shame."

The traditionalistic orientation of religion continues to play an important part in the lives of most Mississippians, often promoting conservative social and political orientations. In one survey, fifty-six percent of Mississippians having opinions approved of the Moral Majority, compared to only 38 percent of the national population.⁶ Eighty-six percent of Mississippians supported requiring prayer readings in the public schools, and 68 percent wanted to require the teaching of the biblical version of creation.⁷ Frequent church attenders and "born again" white Baptists are especially conservative. Those attending church every week are much more likely than infrequent attenders to abstain from alcoholic beverages, to oppose sexual equality, and to oppose any form of gambling.⁸ White Baptists who feel that they have been "born again" are much more supportive of the Moral Majority, creationism, and school prayer, and much more opposed to school and neighborhood integration and abortion than are other whites.⁹

In addition to blacks, women traditionally were relegated to a subordinate social and political role. "The woman, tradition dictated, was to be set apart, protected and even exalted in words if not in deeds... Women too, often look unsuccessfully for jobs, get fired if they find them, and find they are paid lower sums than a man receives for the same kind of work... When certain church groups went from Mississippi to the International Women's Year convention in Houston, they publicized the state as one violently opposed to full citizenship rights for women and irresponsibly branded women feminists who supported the Equal Rights Amendment as lesbians...."¹⁰

As late as 1984, 43 percent of Mississippians having opinions agreed with the statement that: "Women should take care of running their homes, and leave running the country up to men." Nationally, only 26 percent agreed with this statement.¹¹ Only 25 percent of Mississippians expressed opposition to a constitutional amendment banning all abortions except those necessary to save the life of the mother. While 62 percent of Mississippians expressed support for the Equal Rights Amendment, the amendment died in legislative committee without a floor vote.¹² Even the views of many women in Mississippi reflect their conservative social environment, as shown by the Mississippi Federation of Business and Professional Women who recently abandoned support for the ERA and abortion in the face of declining membership.

In many ways the most traditionalistic region in the state remains the Mississippi Delta. Even in the 1980s, many Delta communities are dominated by financially advantaged whites who are reluctant to change, while the great majority of blacks remain impoverished. Hence, Delta society in some respects still resembles the ante-bellum era when a majority black population worked as slaves on plantations owned by rich whites. While most Delta whites have accepted the contemporary norm of racial integration, a significant minority still resists it. In a 1988 survey of Delta whites, 30 percent preferred segregated schools, 37 percent endorsed segregated neighborhoods, and 37 percent objected to sending their children to majority black schools.¹³

Yet change is coming, even to the Delta. Living in one of the poorest areas in the nation, more and more Delta residents wish to solve the massive economic problems facing them, instead of continuing to re-fight the Civil War. While being satisfied overall with the quality of life in their communities, most residents hope for improvements in such basic things as their salaries and living conditions. The younger generation especially yearns for change, as 72 percent of Delta residents under the age of 30 express a willingness to leave their community to find a better job, compared to 50 percent of all Delta residents. With national economic difficulties hurting farmers generally, economic recession has plagued white as well as black farmers in the Delta. Hence, economic needs that are common to both races are increasingly salient to voters, replacing divisive racial matters. This political transformation is reflected in the landslide re-election in 1988 of a black Congressman, Mike Espy, from the "Delta" district. Espy has worked hard to increase federal aid to the area and to encourage businesses to relocate there.

The Struggle Over Race Relations

Historically, many white Mississippians have held racist and segregationist attitudes. Such attitudes were embodied in a response that a governor of the early 1900s, James Vardaman, made to a question about adequate educational opportunities for blacks: "Why squander money on his education when the only effect is to spoil a good field hand and make an insolent cook?"¹⁴ Racist attitudes were so widespread that even as late as the 1960s one Governor (Paul Johnson) was reported to have referred to the NAACP as standing for: "Niggers, Alligators, Apes, Coons, and Possums."¹⁵ During the 1950s and 1960s, "race was the acute and overriding campaign issue, the pivot upon which most state elections turned." Most white Mississippians "unquestionably" opposed the Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education decision and school integration.¹⁶

By the 1960s some Mississippi political and business leaders urged obedience to the law requiring a desegregated society, and the opinions of white citizens began to change. In a 1981 public opinion survey, 69 percent of white Mississippians supported and only 20 percent opposed school integration. These proportions were very similar to those of whites in other southern states, and only slightly more segregationist than whites nationwide (figure 1). Even more illustrative of the change in racial attitudes that has swept the state, Mississippians were more supportive of neighborhood integration than whites in other southern states, and nearly as supportive as whites nationally.¹⁷ Perhaps the high percentage of blacks in the state population, necessitating daily interaction between the races, facilitated the increase in tolerance of whites.

Despite these changes, racial differences in the 1980s persist on many political orientations. Blacks are more supportive of a progressive tax structure and spending on domestic welfare programs than are whites, understandable in view of their generally lower socioeconomic status level. (Blacks continue to earn less than half the income that whites do.) Blacks are also significantly more cynical than whites about public officials in the state, feeling that they treat white constituents better than their black constituents.¹⁸ Such racial differences are not unique to Mississippi; nationally, blacks are significantly more liberal than are whites.¹⁹ The greater existence of poverty and unemployment in Mississippi, as well as the legacy of racial discrimination and repression, may serve to intensify the problem.

The Emergence of Progressivism

By the early 1980s most Mississippians had become aware of the state's problems, and increasingly supported changes in the status quo. In a 1981 poll, most Mississippians urged state leaders to improve the educational system and attract industry in order to provide more and higher paying jobs. Specific educational improvements supported by the public included a mandatory school attendance law (supported by 91 percent of Mississippians), state-supported public kindergartens (61 percent support, and only 26 percent opposition), and increased state and local government spending for public education (70 percent). Such widespread support for educational improvements culminated in passage of the 1982 Education Reform Act which incorporated these programs.²⁰ Public support also helped produce a major teacher pay raise in 1988 to bring teachers' salaries closer to the Southeast average, and an equity funding measure in 1989 that sought to guarantee a basic level of state support for all school districts.

Many Mississippians also came to believe that the governor's office was too weak and should be strengthened.²¹ A 1986 poll indicated that 75 percent of Mississippians supported a gubernatorial succession constitutional amendment permitting a governor to serve two four-year terms in a row. In November the same margin of voters ratified the proposed succession amendment. The public vote was made possible after a long-time legislative foe of gubernatorial succession, expressing dissatisfaction over the state's slow economic progress, permitted it to be reported out of his committee for a floor vote. In 1988 and 1989, however, only modest progress was made in the area of government reorganization--a major goal of Governor Ray Mabus--partly because of the legislature's reluctance to give the governor more power. Less public support has greeted far-reaching proposals to permit the governor to appoint the heads of executive departments that are now popularly elected. Mississippians continue to sympathize with Jacksonian democracy, preferring to directly elect many executive officials.

Mississippians advocating change have been unsuccessful in influencing the legislature in other areas as well. Legislative support for higher education has been uneven over the years. A 1986 poll showed that two-thirds of Mississippians preferred raising taxes instead of cutting spending for higher education, yet the legislature slashed spending for higher education and other state programs. Funding was restored in the next two years, but then essentially frozen. A likely explanation for uneven funding was that money was being diverted to increase funding for public elementary and secondary education. One method of funding public education--a lottery--has continually died in the legislature. While 72 percent of Mississippians polled have supported a state lottery that earmarks income for education, religious organizations have continually opposed it on moral grounds. Some opponents also fear that a lottery would serve as a regressive tax, drawing a proportionately greater share of the income of poor citizens compared to wealthier persons.

Other changes in traditional state policies have also encountered resistance. Despite 69 percent of Mississippians supporting a law requiring the use of seat belts by front-seat passengers, the proposal continually died in committee as a perceived infringement on individual liberty.²² The 1990 legislature finally passed a seat belt law, but provided no penalty for its violation. Progressive measures killed in recent legislative sessions include increased protection for tenants in their interaction with landlords, establishment of child care facilities for state employees, and institution of a voter registration by mail system to encourage turnout. However, an important break from the past was the state's settlement of a voting rights lawsuit in 1989 in a way that increased the number of black majority judicial districts. Attorney General Mike Moore also announced that the executive branch would no longer defend anti-civil rights lawsuits that were losing causes.

Mississippians increasingly look to government to provide solutions to problems, so that the state can move ahead. In public opinion polls conducted throughout the 1980s, significant majorities of Mississippians urged state government to spend more money on improving public elementary, secondary, and higher education, attracting industry, building highways, and providing health care and other programs for the poor.²³ Opinion polls also demonstrated that citizens held state officials accountable for the perceived quality of life in the state. As fewer people in 1986 compared to 1981 rated Mississippi as an excellent place to live, public support for the legislature and the governor also declined.²⁴ Such increased public concern over political matters is a departure from the traditionalistic notion of elite domination and minimal public involvement in politics.²⁵

Group Differences in Political Attitudes

Considerable change has occurred in Mississippians' political attitudes, as rising progressivism and tolerance have replaced some traditionalistic orientations. Mississippi has shifted toward the rest of the nation in recent decades, with most residents accepting the modern welfare state and an integrated social order. It is instructive to examine how different Mississippians vary in their political views. We rely primarily on statewide public opinion polls conducted in 1981, 1986, and 1988, which contain pertinent information about the policy orientations of different groups of Mississippians.

One very important source of change is generational replacement. Younger white Mississippians are significantly more supportive of civil rights and liberties than are older Mississippians. Seventy-five percent of younger Mississippians support women's rights compared to only 37 percent of older residents (table 1). Among whites under age 30, 80 percent support school integration and 65 percent support open housing. Among those over 60, only 49 percent favor school integration and 34 percent support open housing. Young people are also more supportive of the Equal Rights Amendment, abortion, and gun control measures than the elderly. Those under 30 are also more likely to express liberal views than are their elders on various economic issues, such as domestic welfare spending, health care, and labor union support. As time passes and elderly Mississippians are replaced by their offspring, the state should continue to become more tolerant and to more closely reflect the political orientations that have existed nationally.

Another important source of change is the political mobilization of black Mississippians. Black Mississippians are significantly more liberal than whites across a range of political issues. Economically, blacks compared to whites are more supportive of labor unions, government-sponsored health insurance, public works, food stamps, and increased domestic spending, and less supportive of a balanced budget. On civil liberty issues, blacks are more supportive of gun control and more opposed to the death penalty and reinstatement of the draft. On civil rights concerns, blacks are significantly more supportive of the Voting Rights Act, integrated schools in general, and busing to achieve racially balanced schools than are whites.

Clearly, the enfranchisement of blacks has added a more liberal group to the political environment, one that encourages public officials to pursue less conservative policies. Such racial divisions are hardly unique to Mississippi, since blacks across the nation are much more liberal than are whites.²⁶ Racial differences in Mississippi today over public policies resemble racial divisions existing across the entire nation.

Political conflict outside the South since the 1930s has been fueled by economic divisions, as lower socioeconomic status groups have been more liberal on economic issues and more Democratic in partisanship than richer and more highly educated people.²⁷ Similar political cleavages exist in Mississippi today. Poor whites are somewhat more liberal on economic issues than are those with higher incomes. Whites in families making less than $10,000 a year are more supportive of health care, public works, food stamps, and domestic spending generally than are those in families making more than $20,000. High school dropouts are more likely to call themselves "liberals" than are those with some college education. By the 1980s even partisan orientations were finally being influenced by economic issue attitudes. White Democrats were more supportive of labor unions, health insurance, public works, and domestic spending generally than were white Republicans. The old solid Democratic South tradition of a segregationist society and racial tensions continues to fade in Mississippi. Political cleavages based on economic issues are becoming more evident.

The election of Ronald Reagan saw the advent of gender differences on many political issues nationally, as women were somewhat more liberal than men on a diverse range of economic, social, race, and foreign affairs issues.²⁸ Gender differences are also evident in Mississippi, though they are somewhat more narrow. Compared to men, women in Mississippi are more supportive of gun control and more opposed to the death penalty and the draft. Gender differences do not exist on economic or civil rights issues (these data are therefore omitted from the table). As more and more women in Mississippi enter the work force and become the heads of households facing low salaries and discrimination, Mississippi women may become more liberal on a greater range of issues, providing another impetus for change in state policies.

As Mississippi society becomes increasingly pluralistic with political attitudes differing between groups defined by age, race, sex, and socioeconomic status, the geographic regions of the state have become less distinctive. Political scientists in previous decades have referred to the state's deep-seated conservatism as the "Delta mind", and discussed historical divisions between Delta and Hill residents.²⁹ Yet by the 1980s except on the racial issues discussed earlier, attitudinal differences between whites from different regions of the state had become slight, and differed in ideological direction from issue to issue.³⁰

An example of the inconsistent ideological impact of region is provided by the 1988 poll comparing Delta residents with residents in the rest of the state. Although Delta residents expressed somewhat less liberal opinions than non-Delta residents on racial issues, Mississippians from the economically depressed and poverty stricken Delta region were very willing to resort to an activist state government to promote economic development and assist socially disadvantaged citizens. Among Delta residents, 78 percent felt that state government should spend more on building highways (compared to 69 percent of non-Delta residents), 76 percent supported more spending on attracting industry (compared to 75 percent for the non-Delta population), 74 percent favored more college and health care spending (69 percent non-Delta), 65 percent favored more funding for anti-poverty programs (57 percent non-Delta), and 59 percent favored more day care spending (48 percent non-Delta).³¹

The winds of change are indeed sweeping across the state. The enfranchisement of blacks with the 1965 Voting Rights Act added a large and decidedly liberal group to the state voting electorate. Young people who grew up in a racially integrated society and attended school at a time when women were encouraged to pursue careers are much more supportive of the rights of blacks and women than are older generations. As racial tensions subsided, economic issues became more salient and lower socioeconomic status groups and Democrats took more liberal positions on these issues. Even females, a politically weak group historically, began to acquire more distinct attitudes that favored resolving social problems without using force. As time passes and tradition continues to fade, these groups may play an increasingly important role in transforming the political landscape of Mississippi.

Business, Professional, and Farm Groups

As in most states, business groups are among the most influential and active interest groups possessing considerable financial resources at their disposal to influence the political process. One major textbook on the politics of the fifty states lists the Economic Council, the Farm Bureau, and the manufacturer's association as being the most powerful interest groups in Mississippi, along with public school teachers and associations of local officials like county supervisors.³² Generally, such business, professional, and farm groups have opposed change that was perceived as potentially harmful to their membership.

The Mississippi Manufacturers Association, established in 1951 with a contemporary membership of about 1400 manufacturing firms, remains one of the most traditional and conservative groups. A foremost goal is to "reduce the size and cost of state government." Pursuant to that goal, the association opposes increasing taxes to improve education. It also opposes a constitutional convention, because of the expense involved and a concern that an existing right to work clause might be eliminated from a new state constitution. The organization has supported the merging of school districts and consolidation of universities, tort reform (limiting business liability for "excessive" damage claims), and the 1987 highway bill (designed to four-lane one thousand miles of state roads by the year 2000). The association exerts influence over the legislature through weekly legislative bulletins sent to its members, a political action committee, and an active membership engaged in grassroots lobbying.³³

Another effective conservative group is the Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation. Founded in 1922 and representing 150,000 families by the late 1980s, the Federation counters the declining power of agriculture in this century with effective lobbying efforts. Their organization exists in each county, and members interview legislative candidates to determine their support for Federation objectives. Weekly legislative newsletters are sent to constituents, who are urged to contact legislators. Members sit in the balcony and monitor the legislature, and a WATS line informs callers about the status of pertinent legislation. The Federation has generally opposed tax increases, such as raising the 10 percent cap on property taxes to improve rural roads and bridges, and lowering the public vote margin needed to pass school bond issues from 60 percent to 50 percent. As already noted, the Federation has also helped to kill a state constitutional convention.³⁴

The Mississippi Economic Council (MEC), formed in 1948, is the most broadly based business association in the state. With a wide-ranging perspective on how economic development can be promoted, the MEC is viewed as one of the more progressive business groups in Mississippi. In recent years it has supported such measures as the 1982 Education Reform Act, improved funding of higher education, gubernatorial succession, and the unit system at the county level (so that expenditure decisions in counties would be made by professionally trained administrators). The MEC appoints committees to research state issues, and conducts polls of its membership regarding their own attitudes on proposed policies. Members are informed about relevant subjects through a semi-monthly newspaper and weekly legislative bulletins. The MEC informs the public about its views through a Speakers' Bureau (with 200 volunteers) and weekly editorials sent to all state newspapers. MEC lobbyists also testify before legislative committees and meet regularly with legislators.³⁵

Other business and professional groups have a more narrow focus, concentrating on issues of concern to their more specialized membership. The Mississippi Banker's Association has successfully urged gradual deregulation of interest rates on major loans, and after years of dissension achieved consensus among its membership for support of statewide and interstate banking (which became law in 1986).³⁶ The Retail Association of Mississippi has supported such issues as truth in advertising, bad checks legislation, outlawing transient merchants, tort reform, and anti-shoplifting measures.³⁷ Despite considerable business support for tort reform in 1986, the Mississippi Trial Lawyer's Association contributed to its defeat by testifying against it in committee.³⁸ (In 1989 a less ambitious tort reform measure that merely decreased the time period for filing lawsuits rather than capping amounts for damages finally passed the legislature.) The Mississippi Medical Association has supported such measures as tort reform, mandated seat belt use, smoke-free areas in public buildings, and expanded state medicaid to include pregnant mothers and young children.³⁹

For years the Mississippi Association of Supervisors successfully opposed state mandating of the county unit system, and recently unsuccessfully urged increased taxes for the needs of local government.⁴⁰ In 1988, despite public support for Governor Mabus' proposal to establish the unit system, county supervisors were successful in getting the legislature to modify the proposal to require public referenda in each county on whether to establish the unit system for that particular county. Receiving 62 percent of the popular vote statewide, the unit system referendum passed in 47 of the 82 counties.

The Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association's membership produces over 95 percent of the oil and gas in Mississippi. In 1982 this organization successfully killed an increase in the oil and gas severance tax, which was to fund the Education Reform Act. The association used effective lobbying techniques such as full-page newspaper advertisements charging that the tax increase would drive the industry out of the state. These ads also provided a toll-free telephone number for concerned readers to contact the association.⁴¹

Morality-Oriented Groups

With the importance of religion and family in Mississippi's traditionalistic political culture, religiously-oriented interests comprise an important part of the interest group environment even today. They often support conservative policies that are viewed as upholding traditional moral values.⁴²

Right to Life is a single-issue group organized in the state in 1979 to oppose abortion. In the late 1980s the organization succeeded in getting passage of a state law requiring parental consent for abortions by minors, though a federal injunction requested by the ACLU temporarily nullified this law. It also helped to kill state Medicaid funding for protein screening of pregnant women to detect possible birth defects, a practice which might encourage abortions. The organization testifies before legislative committees, has a bi-monthly newsletter, and is particularly active in protesting outside of abortion clinics. Especially effective tactics are telephone trees in which members across the state are urged to contact their legislators on relevant bills.⁴³

Individual churches and denominations often urge parishioners to contact legislators about moral issues. In the late 1980s the Christian Action Commission of the state Baptist convention coordinated lobbying efforts that helped defeat a proposed state lottery. Volunteers called Baptists around the state, and urged them to contact their legislators. Southern Baptists have strongly supported state Sunday closing laws, which were recently repealed, while the Presbyterian denomination is heavily identified with the Right to Life cause. The lobbying of religious denominations may be especially important in influencing legislators who share that religion. In recent years, Baptist legislators have voted heavily against a lottery bill, while Presbyterian lawmakers strongly supported the parental consent for minors' abortion bill.⁴⁴ Religious groups have successfully killed other gambling proposals in the legislature, except for a 1989 measure that permitted a cruise ship en route to international waters to begin gambling activities in territorial waters, and a 1990 measure legalizing riverboat gambling on the Mississippi River. They were enacted as economic development measures that would attract tourism.

Labor Associations

Chartered in Mississippi in 1957, the state AFL-CIO by the late 1980s had over 80,000 working class members, though it has suffered declining membership because of rising imports. It often opposes the goals of the business organizations already discussed, such as tort reform and the prohibition of collective bargaining in the public sector. In these two instances it has generally been on the winning side. It has been less successful in improving workers' compensation or actually unionizing the public sector. The association's major resource is people. Many labor union volunteers actively supported the elections of Democratic Congressmen Wayne Dowdy, Mike Espy, and Mike Parker by working in get out the vote drives.⁴⁵

An important political force was born with the unifying of separate black and white teacher's organizations in 1976 into the Mississippi Association of Educators (MAE). The MAE represents over half of the public school teachers in the state, and distributes a monthly newspaper to members. It is very active in the electoral process, interviewing and endorsing candidates, funding them, and then using its large membership to staff phone banks and turn out the vote on election day. In the 1980s, for example, it successfully supported the elections of Congressmen Espy, Dowdy, and Parker (all Democrats), but was unsuccessful in promoting Dowdy to the U.S. Senate.

In the 1980s the MAE became increasingly involved in the politics of confrontation. In 1982 several thousand teachers demonstrated at the state capital in support of the Education Reform Act. In 1985 17,000 teachers demonstrated at the capital in support of starting to bring teacher salaries up to the regional average. Subsequently, the first teacher strike in the state's history (which was most noticeable in the more urbanized southern part of the state) resulted in a significant teacher pay raise. Yet teacher salaries in 1987 remained the lowest in the region, and the MAE was unsuccessful in urging the legislature to lower the 60 percent vote margin required for passage of school bond issues to a majority.⁴⁶ In 1988 MAE-backed and newly elected governor, Ray Mabus, proposed a state budget that sought to raise teachers' salaries to the Southeast average. A modified version of Mabus' proposal was enacted by the legislature.

Citizens' Groups

Rising educational levels and the in-migration of professionals have led in the past two decades to the emergence of various public interest organizations dedicated to changing the status quo. Their rise illustrates how Mississippi is evolving from a very traditionalistic state into a more modern, cosmopolitan state with a multitude of competing interest groups. A predecessor of these citizens' groups was the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), which has fought for basic human rights for blacks in Mississippi since the 1950s.

The NAACP was most active and successful in the 1950s and 1960s, promoting integration and voting rights for blacks. The pace of change was so great that Mississippi elected more blacks to public office than did any other state except Alabama (646 served in 1989). Hence, complacency and declining membership started to plague the organization in 1970. In the 1980s the NAACP returned to its earlier tactics of economic boycotts and marches, leading the Indianola school board to hire a black superintendent and the Canton school board to appoint a black board member. It continued to frequently resort to the judicial system, successfully fighting for the establishment of a black majority Congressional district in the Delta (which elected a black--Mike Espy--in 1986).⁴⁷

The American Civil Liberties Union was organized in Mississippi in 1969 to protect individuals' constitutional rights. With one of the smallest chapters in the nation, it relies heavily on lawyers volunteering their time to file lawsuits against allegedly unconstitutional state actions. In the 1980s the ACLU was successful in court fights opposing prayer in the public schools, a law requiring minors to get parental consent for abortions, and the practice of using the lights in the Siller's state office building to make the shape of a cross during Christmas. The ACLU was also successful in 1980 in striking down a state law targeted against all foreign students, requiring them to pay the "full cost" of their higher education. (The law was passed in reaction to the Iranian hostage situation.)⁴⁸

Another public interest group is Common Cause, formed in Mississippi in 1972 to promote government's accountability to the people. With a small membership and limited budget, it relies on newspaper editorials and a quarterly newsletter to promote its positions. It has successfully urged the establishment of an Ethics Commission, open records, open meetings, and a PAC reporting law, though it has been unsuccessful in getting the legislature to call a constitutional convention.⁴⁹

The defeat of the Education Reform Act in the 1982 regular legislative session, after obstructionist maneuvers by legislative leaders, angered many professionals and progressives. Some formed an organization called Mississippi First to fight the "old-guard" politicians and promote education. Their lobbying helped pass the Act in a special legislative session later that year. Mississippi First then raised about $100,000 for the 1983 legislative elections, targeting 50 races and winning in over half. The organization distributes a newsletter, and raises money through direct mail tactics. In 1987 it unsuccessfully fought for a constitutional convention, and once again endorsed favored candidates in the legislative elections.⁵⁰

The late 1980s saw the rise or increased activity of other progressive interest groups, leading many political observers to become optimistic about Mississippi's future. In 1987 prominent business leaders formed the Council for Support of Public Higher Education in Mississippi, and in newspaper and television advertisements urged the legislature to raise income taxes to increase funding for higher education (which had been cut the previous year). After losing in a close vote in an election year, the Council broadened its mandate to include all levels of public education, and backed Governor Mabus' successful effort to increase funding for public elementary, secondary, and higher education by $200 million. Anticipating the need to push for the governor's "Education Reform Act II," the Council in 1989 merged with the newly formed Public School Forum of Mississippi, an organization of leading state businessmen, educators, and public officials modeled after the successful Public School Forum of North Carolina.⁵¹ In 1987, Mississippi 2020 was formed by professionals in an effort to promote public awareness of the need to improve the quality of life in the state. The Mississippi Federation of Business and Professional Women (formed in 1921) has become more actively involved in the political process in recent years, supporting improvements in public programs such as elementary, secondary, and higher education.⁵²

Implications

The pace of change in Mississippi has been great in recent years. Mississippi has been transformed from a relatively closed, rural, traditional, and conservative-dominated society into a more modern, cosmopolitan state with a multitude of competing interest groups. While traditional institutions such as the family and religion remain strong, the increased number of young, well-educated residents has led to greater concern for promoting the modernization of Mississippi. Economic concerns have become salient to many residents, and improving education has become a popular issue. A well educated population is seen as instrumental in attracting high wage industries to the state. Reflecting the public's support for modernization, an increasing number of reform-oriented interest groups and political leaders have emerged in recent years. They face traditionalistic interest groups and citizens, who remain a force to be reckoned with. The great poverty of Mississippi also makes it difficult to fund many worthy, reform-oriented programs. It is therefore likely that the struggle over the future direction of public policy in Mississippi will be a long and difficult one.