Tonight, half of Mississippi reminded the US why it's:

[Demovictory9]

Link to tweet

Tonight, half of Mississippi reminded the US why it's:

50th in income
48th in economy
3rd in welfare dependency
50th in healthcare
50th in infant mortality
2nd in obesity
47th in education
50th in college readiness
47th in employment
7th in depression

[DinahMoeHum]

1. Mississippi apparently has this "affinity for the bottom". . .

. . .as the late Aaron Henry of the Mississippi branch of the NAACP used to say.



https://books.google.com/books?id=0RGJ9fKIoFwC&pg=PA118&lpg=PA118&dq=aaron+henry+mississippi+affinity+for+the+bottom&source=bl&ots=E5P_Ec4O3n&sig=oA61tnIQ9tIzqCIZq9pxsmaYIuQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjdgZXdkffeAhUDiIMKHXH_B6kQ6AEwD3oECAcQAQ#v=onepage&q=aaron%20henry%20mississippi%20affinity%20for%20the%20bottom&f=false

[In It to Win It]

2. Despite all that, they haven't hit rock bottom yet or at least they don't believe they have...

The Kansas effect has to occur in Mississippi. The government has to hit rock bottom enough to have negative impacts before they start voting for a Democrat.

[Hortensis]

3. MS has had a huge brain and youth drain over some years now.

In checking the governor's race, I learned that Mississippi is 37% black and, shockingly, 90% of MS whites are Republicans -- in this era!

The exodus out of MS explains that last tragically: many of their best people have left to build their lives elsewhere. The only demographic moving in in greater numbers than out is retirement age, most returning home after years away no doubt.

This article from 12/2017 does not mention race or personality orientation, but MS's population loss does include major, ongoing youth and brain drains.

The exodus out of Mississippi shows no signs of abating, according to Census estimates released today (12/2017). ... The outflow has been persistent and exceptional: Mississippi has lost more people than we have attracted in each calendar year since 2010, despite being located in middle of the fastest-growing region in America.

Mississippians under 35 account for nearly 90% of net migration losses. The only age range Mississippi is attracting is 55-64. (IRS; my calculations) ...

The more education a person gets, the less likely they are to live in Mississippi. ...

Only half of recent graduates from Mississippi’s four-year public universities are working in the state five years after receiving a degree. ...

Each year of brain drain leaches an additional $100-150 million in net personal income out of the state, which compounds over time as those who have moved away put down roots and build careers. Mississippi’s movers from 2011-2016 transmitted a cumulative $1.4 billion in income to other states. ...

http://www.rethinkms.org/2017/12/21/new-census-data-ol-story-people-keep-leaving-mississippi/

Amid big problems for this state -- unquestionably provoking great anxiety and thus greater protective conservatism -- in my disgust at this race I see one good auger for the future: A fair number of those who voted for this absolutely terrible candidate to be Governor of Mississippi will die off or otherwise stop voting over the next decade.

[dembotoz]

4. i will resist the urge to pile on...i am from wisconsin whose gop seems hell bent to replicate

the mississippi story.

new gov yes thank god
but the gop controls the rest

[Hermit-The-Prog]

7. ky is racing other GOPer states

My state, KY, is in a race to the bottom. Our only competition is other GOPer-run states. Dem states seem to be running the other way, for some strange reason. Must be science or something. Nobody can explain that stuff.

[roamer65]

5. Trent Lott.

Need I say more?

[SWBTATTReg]

6. A sad story of the south and its treatment of its own citizens. It suppresses economic ...

opportunities solely to support its sole sucking segregation in all sorts of ways, regardless of what it does for the state via long term development. No wonder everyone leaves when they become of age.

Their desire to suppress one sector of the population has translated into suppressing just about everything else in MS, and in some ways, other states of the south are similar, but MS is probably the worse example of all of the states in the south. It really is a shame for being one of the states in the south, thus warmer during the winter months, could be a beacon for development.