'Good ol' boys' and visionaries

The article "Mississippi Governor Fights for Reelection," Sept. 30, graphically points out an all-too-real political division here in Mississippi. This division is not new; it dates back as far as the racism that has come to represent our state. The conflict is between the "good ol' boys" and a few visionaries who can see our state one day being more than just the footstool for the rest of the nation. These "good ol' boys" have had a stranglehold on our state for more than 100 years, but that is changing. Under Gov. Ray Mabus, however controversial he may be, our state has begun to ascend the great social, educational, and economic ladder leading to eventual respectability with other states. Many critics say he has not reached the lofty expectations presented in his first election. This may be true, but the depths of despair in which more than a century of stagnation and political corruption had left our state could not have been foreseen. Governor Mabus has started our state on the climb upward, and it i s time for us to follow through by giving him our support. Craig Dailey, Burnsville, Miss.

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