MISSOURI WATCH: GREAT-GRANDDADDY HAD A NAME FOR PARTISAN PURISTS

Given the prevalence of the Alben Barkley Syndrome ("What have you done for me lately?"), it is somewhat surprising that so many Missourians permit themselves to be enthusiastic partisans of one of the two major political parties. The last election provided yet another example of how purely partisan beliefs overshadow the usually common sense values of logical and responsible citizens.

For many Missourians, some would say far too many, the overriding issue of any election is the victory of the candidates of a favored party. We have all heard the usual explanations: "I vote a straight Democratic ticket" or "I've never voted for anyone but a Republican." For these partisans, the issue is not more money for education or lower taxes or welfare reform, but the fortunes of adopted political faiths.

Some would call this political purity. Others would call it putrid polity. Whatever term one assigns, it is remarkably poor citizenship, for government is about creating and furthering an orderly society, establishing a civil community in which the rights of all citizens are protected and one in which the basic needs of citizens are met in some manner.

The political philosophy of some long-time Missourians is based on events that preceded and followed the Civil War some 135 years ago, a period that was perhaps America's darkest moment. Missouri was particularly beset by the battles of this disastrous conflict, which was extended far beyond the war years by the state's Constitution of 1865 that served to disenfranchise those who supported the cause of the Confederacy. Losing one's right to vote, to participate in community affairs, to purchase land, to exercise any of the rights of citizenship were heavy penalties, indeed. The decade following the Civil War was more burdensome for many Missourians than the armed conflict itself.

Such traumas understandably produce scars, shaping one's future and beliefs in a variety of ways, and that they shaped the views of countless Missourians is undeniable. It helps explain, for instance, the almost one-sided political climate in such areas as central Missouri, a.k.a. Little Dixie, the Bootheel and the Ozarks mountains. Some were established as firmly Democratic, others firmly Republican.

In the intervening years, however, Missourians have fought and survived countless other wars, some perhaps less dramatic but all influential and far-reaching. Such wars have occurred in the shape of recessions and depressions, corrupt political machines, prohibition, suffrage, disease, bank closings, property foreclosures and devastating acts of nature. Yet I have never heard a voter say he switched parties because the Democrats supported and encouraged the Pendergast machine or left the Republican fold because the banker who foreclosed on his grandfather's farm was a member of the GOP.

Our ancestors had various reasons for supporting one or the other party, and they did so based on anonymous reasons that were more personal than philosophical. This adherence to ancestral whim for the proper choice, resembling the traditions of the Orient, has more often than not determined the political faith of countless Missourians, perhaps more than we care to acknowledge in an age of supposed and claimed enlightenment.

Yet, enlightenment it is not As for respect, consider how little the political parties are involved in public policy questions that affect citizens' lives far more than quadrennial elections. Consider how few issues are adopted for sponsorship by either political party in Missouri, dedicated as both are to one overriding effort: the election of all Democrats or all Republicans to six statewide offices, 197 seats in the General Assembly, nine congressional offices and two members of the U.S. Senate. Beyond that, exactly what do the political parties in Missouri stand for? Beyond that, have these two groups sought better governance, progressive service programs, improved education, more civility, expanded constituent services, more responsible officeholders? All that matters is party membership.

The cupboard is extremely bare when it comes to partisan involvement in basic governmental performance. One suspects that some voters adhere to political philosophy out of ancestral whim or happenstance. Shucks, even our great-granddaddy had a name for anyone who follows a political party without rhyme or reason: politically challenged and impaired.

~Jack Stapleton of Kennett is the editor of Missouri News and Editorial Service.