Civil Conversations with David Baria Podcast

If you pay attention to wacky bills making their way though courthouses around the country, then you should have a particular interest in this episode. Former State Representative Andy Gipson, David's guest on this episode, is responsible for a number of bills that have caused controversy nationwide. From a so-called "personhood" bill to the "bathroom" bill, and from "abuse is no excuse" to "religious freedom" - all the way to this past year's session in which he proposed a bill clarifying the rights of enhanced concealed carry permitters to be able to carry into public spaces like sports stadiums - for Rep Gipson has been the staunchest of conservative voices in a deeply red and  deeply religious state.  Of course, such a man is easy to dismiss from afar as a "nut". up close and personal is quite another story. He is no bumpkin. He was valedictorian of his law school class, and an attorney at a high-powered law office based in Jackson. He is also an ordained Southern Baptist minister with theological training.  In short, Andy is as confounding as he is controversial. A formidable adversary for David in his work at the Capitol, he is also one of only two Republicans willing to have a Civil Convo with David when asked.  If you want to hear two bright men on opposite sides of the political and philosophical spectrums have a talk about the business of politics - then you are in the right place.  NOTE - since this conversation took place, Rep Gipson was rewarded and at the same time cordoned off from the statehouse by Republican leadership when he was chosen to fill the seat of Commissioner of Agriculture vacated when Cindy Hyde Smith was named US Senator by Gov Phil Bryant after Thad Cochran's retirement in mid-2018.

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In this special episode of Civil Conversations, US Senatorial Candidate David Baria discusses the shameful remarks of President Trump and the failure of present Senator Roger Wicker to rebuke his party's leader. David seets the record straight about the significance of the remarks, the eery similarities to the days of public lynchings in the South, and the damaging effects of demoniIng "the other" in today's America and the modern Mississippi. Cruelty, decency, courage, leadership and awareness are discussed more than polls and demographics. Most profoundly, David discusses the tragic loss of his son in the days following Hurricane Katrina, and the profound effect of seeing light in dark times.  LIsten to a thoroughly refreshing and uplifting and genuine talk with a one-time longshot and now legitimate challenger tounseat  an incumbernt Republican Senator  in the Deep South.

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Responding to people calling his brand of legislating “liberal,” Senator Hob Bryan stated simply: “Those aren’t liberal ideas. They aren’t conservative ideas. They are neither Democratic nor Republican ideas. They are just common sense.” Serving since 1984, Senator Bryan and his common sense approach has developed quite the reputation. A graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law, he is considered brilliant by his colleagues at the capital, yet somewhat frustrating to work with when agitated. And these days, Bryan has plenty keeping himself and others agitated. In this episode of Civil Conversations, David sits down with Senator Bryan to discuss, among other things, a broken legislative process in Mississippi. Taking us behind the scenes, they talk openly at how frustrating and baffling it is watching the Lt. Governor and Speaker of the House continually make decisions regarding important legislation exclusively behind closed doors. Listen closely as David and Senator Bryan discuss how such a clandestine and exclusionary approach to legislating came to a head over the funding of public education. This episode of Civil Conversations begins to shed some light on who is responsible for keeping Mississippi on the bottom, and that just might agitate some folks.

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Son of the state's first woman bus driver, son to state's woman circuit court judge, undertaker, and Coen Bros character come-to- life. Steve is a passionate, loyal, fierce servant of the people of Norh theast Mississippi.

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Whether you are from Mississippi or not, this conversation is something worth listening to…Rep Robert Johnson - despite having the reputation of being both the best orator in the Mississippi legislature, and “the smartest man in Mississippi politics” by those in the know - has trouble comprehending the logic behind some of the decisions made by Republican leadership with respect to infrastructure (the state has 500 bridges out yet refuses to raise the state’s fuel tax which hasn’t been raised in 30 years), though he has no problem identifying the motivation behind other decisions such as the refusal to accept federal money associated with the ACA (here’s a hint - it has to do with race!) Listen in to their conversation as it ranges from Robert’s early years as a child in a still segregated Natchez, MS to David and Robert’s frustrations as members of the House fighting against a Republican party in Mississippi that is openly hostile to the poor.This is a unique opportunity to listen to a conversation between the two top ranking democratic members of the House of Representatives.

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“Mississippi is like a beautiful lady...but her undergarments are dirty. What we gotta do is bathe her and dress her up again.” Perhaps it’s not the most “woke” of analogies, but damned if it ain’t apt. Octogenarian state Senator David Jordan nails the dichotomy of this state famous for hospitality and ruthless racial oppression.  This episode of Civil Conversations features a man who has seen a lot of different versions of America during his lifetime. Senator David Jordan is the son of a sharecropper, who talks about his early days picking cotton. He describes harrowing scenes of our country’s past:  his five year old brother picking cotton into a pillowcase bc the big sacks were far too large, white men beating a black man in the streets for accidentally brushing against their vehicle, a plantation owner threatening his father’s life because his father insisted on sending David and his siblings  to school. Not all the terror he has experienced was in the past. Sen. Jordan’s house was “shot up” in 2011 during a modern struggle over civil rights. David dives into the life and mind of this lifelong public servant who travelled an unlikely and often dangerous path from the cotton fields to the Capitol Building. This Civil Conversation is a reminder that Mississippi has come a long way, but that the state’s metamorphosis is as of yet “incomplete.” Join in this chat between men of different generations, backgrounds and experiences, bound by a desire to see their state emerge from the cocoon, fully transformed from a land of “blood and soil” into a place of beauty and opportunity for all her citizens.

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In this view behind the policy curtain down in Mississippi, David Baria talks with his colleague, Mississippi State Representative Becky Currie. Currie represents something of a frustrating but common political paradox.

During their conversation, Currie and Baria find familiar ground as both lament about how exasperating it can be trying to create good policy for their constituents without being a member of the conservative all boy’s club. Too often their voices, and certainly the policies themselves, are ignored entirely because neither one of them is part of the good old boy power structure in Mississippi.

However, Currie, who talks about the numerous inequalities women face in the workforce, and certainly the legislature, also happens to be the author of the nations’s most restrictive abortion bill. How can someone acknowledge being frustrated with a process that ignores the voice of women, yet hand that same group of men a piece of legislation that represents the most conservative and restrictive of its kind in the entire United States?

This installment of Civil Conversations with David Baria is a fascinating and at times frustrating look at how personal beliefs and emotions, instead of ideals, drive some of the most important policy creation in Mississippi.

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In the new series, Civil Conversations, Senate Candidate David Baria sits with other lawmakers both Democrats and real live Republicans to talk about their ideas and thought processes behind policies

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