It's strange how in the midst of a congressional campaign a candidate will - out of the blue - do the least congressional thing he can do for no apparent reason. And it seems to happen in races in which there are clear distinctions between the candidates.
Such was the case last week when 4th Congressional District Republican nominee Dunn Lampton held a press conference at the state Capitol to ask Gov. Ronnie Musgrove to call a special session of the Mississippi Legislature that would allow lawmakers to place the issue of changing the state flag on the November general election ballot.
"This is too important of an issue to all Mississippians to just allow a small group of people to decide," said Lampton. "I think all the people should have their voices heard. The only way to do that is to vote. This is our state, and we the people should decide what symbols we want to represent us. This is not a race issue. This is a Mississippi issue and what Mississippians think is best for our state. The people of Mississippi have a right to vote and I say, Mr. Governor, let the people decide."
Lampton can't go wrong with rhetoric like that, can he?
Trouble is, Mississippi congressmen aren't charged with deciding the design of the state flag. There's literally nothing a congressman can or can't do about the flag issue - so in congressional politics, the state flag is a non-issue.
It's a non-issue unless one is simply pandering to rural white voters angered over any mention of changing the state flag because a number of black Mississippians have expressed the view that the flag is offensive to them. In that venue, the state flag becomes a really good congressional campaign issue - because it creates racial division and stirs the worst passions in registered voters of all races.
One wonders if Lampton's devotion to the public referendum extends just to the state flag issue or if he's committed to public referendums on matters of more substance. Does Mr. Lampton favor a public referendum on congressional salaries and perks? How about a public referendum on campaign finance reform?
I don't know about you, gentle reader, but I wouldn't mind a referendum on my federal taxes.
A better question is why Lampton feels it is necessary to pour gas on the fire of an already incendiary political fight in Mississippi that can have no other outcome than to ignite racial strife. To advocate the settlement of a political and philosophical fight between members of Mississippi's two-thirds white majority and Mississippi's one-third black minority by popular vote is the kind of winking and nudging that went on in the bad old days in Mississippi - days in which the Klan enjoyed power because many loyal to them held public office or were masquerading as law enforcement officers.
Those who want to settle the flag issue by popular vote believe that's the only way to assure that whites who don't want to change the state flag under any circumstances can guarantee themselves a win. Recognizing that fact makes Dunn Lampton and his GOP advisers astute politicians. Unfortunately, it also makes them political opportunists who don't seem to care whether Mississippi once again descends into open racial strife so long as they can rally votes to their cause.
For the record, Musgrove's Flag Commission is not empowered to change the state flag, only to make recommendations as to the future of the state flag. Only a majority of the Mississippi Legislature can change the state flag.
As was observed in the historic vote of the Legislature that saw Musgrove elected governor back in January, there will always be some spirited debate over whether the Legislature is charged with representing the views of their constituents or their own individual political interests.
The issue of the state flag will test that notion in a most profound manner. But the fact is, Lampton's histrionics aside, it's the Legislature, not the Flag Commission, that will change the state flag regardless of the commission's recommendation.
Clearly, one also has to ask what makes Lampton desperate enough to play the race card at this juncture of his congressional race.
As a conservative Republican, Lampton is running against a dyed-in-the-wool, Big Labor, liberal Democrat who sucks up to the National Democratic Party in Washington while doing a weak-as-dishwater impression of former conservative Democratic Congressman Sonny Montgomery when he's back home.
One need look no farther than the Federal Election Commission reports to see that the union bosses have the same devotion to Shows that they have to out-of-the-closet liberal Democrats like Teddy Kennedy and Dick Gephardt.
Given that fact, it's hard to figure why Lampton felt he needed to get down in the muck of the state flag issue. Lampton's own record of public service as a prosecutor would seem sufficient to meet Shows' juggling act head-on.
Notice that not a single congressional campaign elsewhere in Mississippi has made noise on the state flag issue. The other candidates, it seems, know better.
Lampton's ill-advised interjection of the state flag issue into the 4th District race would seem a direct contradiction of the "Big Tent" philosophies espoused by former RNC Chairman Haley Barbour and current Mississippi GOP leader Mike Retzer.
Voters in Mississippi should beware the state flag issue. Charlatans from every political corner are preparing to invade our state and profiteer from finding ways to make fools of us on the national stage and make us hate each other here at home.
From Jesse Jackson to David Duke, from the NAACP to the Klan, and from white politicians to black politicians, there are people from every hue on the political spectrum ready to sacrifice Mississippi's short-term future for their own political gain.
And over what? A state flag adopted years after the Civil War was concluded that never led a single Confederate soldier into battle - and a flag that has a component that those of us who believe in honoring our war dead allowed hooligans to conscript as their symbol a century later with no protest from a single legitimate historic preservation group.
As a people, we should know better by now.
