{"id":40864,"date":"2017-07-26T15:23:42","date_gmt":"2017-07-26T21:23:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/?p=40864"},"modified":"2017-07-26T15:24:14","modified_gmt":"2017-07-26T21:24:14","slug":"a-return-to-decency-by-jay-hughes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/a-return-to-decency-by-jay-hughes\/","title":{"rendered":"“A Return to Decency” by Jay Hughes"},"content":{"rendered":"

On June 9, 1954, Senator Joe McCarthy<\/strong>\u2019s constant personal attacks and character assassination of many good Americans was brought to a screeching halt when Mr. Joseph Welch<\/strong> asked him a single question:\u00a0 Have you left no sense of decency<\/em>?<\/span><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the tactics used by McCarthy in the 1950\u2019s have come roaring back in 2017, by both sides. The Internet, cable TV, and talk radio, in an effort to sell ads and increase profits, have unleashed a similar pattern of personal attacks and character assassination. This has led to keyboard cowboys and call-in guests on radio shows who will say anything, no matter how untrue and hurtful, to argue that those who do not agree with everything that they believe are the enemy.\u00a0 We have begun to type and say things online and on air that we would never say to another person\u2019s face, or to someone at work or church.\u00a0 So I ask, just as Mr. Welch asked Sen. McCarthy, Have we left no sense of decency?<\/span><\/p>\n

As a husband, father, neighbor, legislator, American and proud Mississippian, I wish for a return to civility. It requires both sharing and listening. So I would begin this civil journey by sharing what I believe is best for our beloved State of Mississippi instead of relying on personal attacks, or hollow party sound bites. These beliefs guides my votes:<\/span><\/p>\n

Foremost, the future of Mississippi definitely starts with a great education for all of our children, equally, and that a quality public school system is the biggest economic driver of any state.\u00a0 When we embrace that reality, Mississippi will move up from last place in all categories.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I believe it is far cheaper to educate a child for 13 years from K-12 than it is to pay for the incarceration of an adult for 20 or 30 years.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I believe Mississippi has great potential to be amazing in public education.\u00a0 However, we must understand that being 50th\u00a0is what happens when we pay our teachers less than 48 other states, and spend less per student than 46 other states.<\/span><\/p>\n

I believe that critical government services, such as mental health, public health, public safety, and roads and bridges are tremendous benefits to society and should be fully funded before we give tax cuts to foreign corporations and large campaign donors.<\/span><\/p>\n

I believe that every law we pass should embrace that all men and women are created equal. Period<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

I believe that the people and local businesses are far more important to the function of Mississippi government than political parties, foreign corporations, and political action committees.<\/span><\/p>\n

I believe that no child gets to pick its parents, zip code, or their mental or physical health.<\/span><\/p>\n

I believe our elected officials should be true public servants and 100 percent transparent at all times.\u00a0 There should be no room in our government for self-serving politicians who put themselves before the people. \u00a0It is wrong that the highest campaign donors control our state government.\u00a0 Public service should never be for private gain.<\/span><\/p>\n

I believe we must live within our means.\u00a0 But I also believe we must stop giving away our means to the highest campaign contributors and then shifting the tax burden to the poor and working class.<\/span><\/p>\n

I believe in being fiscally responsible instead of fiscally conservative.\u00a0\u00a0 Fiscally responsible means spending all money efficiently.\u00a0 Fiscally conservative means spending on programs you like.<\/span><\/p>\n

I know that many of you reading this agree with me, regardless of political party affiliation, or whether you are from the Coast, Hills, Delta, Pine Belt or Jackson area.\u00a0\u00a0 Let\u2019s remember that there is far more that unites us than divides us.\u00a0 Let\u2019s begin to focus on common bonds and goals, instead of tearing down our fellow Mississippians.\u00a0 My simple hope is that we return to a sense of common decency and treat everyone with basic respect, even those with whom we disagree.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now I\u2019m ready to listen.\u00a0\"The<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On June 9, 1954, Senator Joe McCarthy\u2019s constant personal attacks and character assassination of many good Americans was<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":254,"featured_media":36171,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[228],"tags":[10723,1147,1447,5],"class_list":["post-40864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-opinion","tag-civility","tag-education","tag-jay-hughes","tag-mississippi"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/jay-hughes.jpg?fit=940%2C490&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/254"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40864"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40864\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}