I recently had the honor of appearing as a guest on The Rob Maness Show, hosted by Colonel Rob Maness—a true American hero with over 32 years of service in the U.S. military, rising from enlisted ranks to full colonel. He's commanded bomber squadrons, handled bomb disposal, worked on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and even authored the first theater nuclear war plan. If anyone knows about fighting for what's right and making tough decisions under pressure, it's Colonel Maness. We dove deep into a hot-button issue here in Mississippi: school choice, or as some call it, education freedom. As the host of The Clay Edwards Show on 103.9 WYAB in Jackson—Mississippi's most incendiary talk radio show and podcast—I was excited to bring my unfiltered perspective to the table, especially since the Colonel and I usually align on conservative issues, but this one's got some real friction.
The episode kicked off with Colonel Maness setting the stage, highlighting how school choice is a top priority for incoming Mississippi House Speaker Jason White. He played a clip from my own show where I was chatting with Jamie Smith, a 20-plus-year veteran educator turned insurance agent, about the realities of school choice. Jamie and I hammered home the point that if this is truly about the kids, we need to fix failing districts like Jackson Public Schools (JPS) and those in the Mississippi Delta instead of just gutting them by letting students bail to better areas. Why not start by addressing the root problems—poverty, lack of resources, and long bus rides that aren't feasible for Delta kids? We called out the conservative think-tankers and charter school investors who stand to profit big if school choice passes, often while their own kids are already in private schools. Let's be real: this isn't always about the children; sometimes it's about the money.
From there, the Colonel and I got into a respectful, no-holds-barred conversation—MAGA-style, marketplace of ideas, not shouting each other down. I made it clear right away: I'm not against choice entirely. In fact, I support about two-thirds of the typical school choice proposals. I'm fine with charter schools (even if I think the word "charter" only belongs in sentences about schools, whiskey, or NASCAR teams). I'm okay with money following the student for private options or homeschooling—hey, if you're paying taxes, you should have a say in how it's spent on education. I'd even love a tax credit for folks like me who don't have kids in school anymore (though I know that's a Hail Mary). But where I draw the line, and I made this my hill to die on, is the public-to-public transfer aspect. That's the 33% that's a non-starter for me.
I explained my "Jackson problem" in detail—without sugarcoating it, even if it risks sounding edgy in today's hyper-sensitive world. Jackson, our state's capital, is plagued by what I call "cultural rot" or "Democrat death culture," as my buddy Kim Wade puts it. It's a third-world Democrat hellhole where bad policies have led to sky-high crime, failing infrastructure, and schools that are beyond broken. Folks like me (I was one of the last to leave three years ago, basically turning out the lights) had to make huge sacrifices to escape it. I shared my personal story: after my nightclubs closed in 2010-2011, I hit rock bottom financially, lost everything, and had to move back in with my parents in Jackson with my daughter. We even had to legally relocate her to my grandmother's in Florence, Rankin County, just to get her into a better school district. It was humiliating, but that's the American way—pull up your bootstraps, make tough choices, downsize if needed, and move to safer, better communities like Brandon, Pearl, or Madison.
These suburbs in the tri-county area (Hinds, Madison, Rankin) are thriving because people chose discipline, law and order, and accountability. We don't want that cultural rot seeping in via public-to-public transfers, where Jackson parents can stay in their loosey-goosey, lawless environment (riding dirty with pot, shunning discipline) but send their kids to our schools. It's not racism—it's about preserving communities built on shared values. I pointed out how polls claiming 70-80% support for school choice are misleading; they're asking loaded questions like "Should parents have a say in their kids' education?" Of course, yes! But ask the real one: "Should kids from failing Jackson schools be bused to your suburb without the family moving?" The answer's a resounding no from conservatives and even Democrats I've talked to out here.
We touched on real-world examples: schools like Pearl using tag readers to catch Jackson parents faking addresses. I shared a conversation with a hardworking Jackson mom (a waitress with three jobs) who overheard me debating this—she cares deeply about her kids but can't physically shuttle them due to her schedule. Does she lack "skin in the game" just because she's grinding to make end