History is a powerful master.
Consider its hold on Mississippi. Since 1990 three other southern states have attempted to distance themselves from the haunting legacy of the Civil War by relegating the old Confederate battle flag to history. The flag no longer flies over the state capitol in Alabama. In South Carolina, the legislature voted last summer to move it to a Confederate memorial on the statehouse grounds. Mississippi would do well to follow the example of her neighbors, but isn't likely to do so.