Michael Hiltzik: If Mississippi is a 'laboratory of democracy,' we're in trouble

The notion of states as "laboratories of democracy" is generally credited to Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis.

"It is one of the happy incidents of the federal system that a single courageous state may, if its citizens choose, serve as a laboratory; and try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country," Brandeis, the court's liberal lion, wrote in a dissent to a 1932 decision.

One wonders what Brandeis would make of Mississippi today.

The travails of residents of Jackson, the state capital, due to the utter collapse of the municipal water system, have been claiming the most public attention lately, what with advice to residents to shower with their mouths closed and to take other steps due to the health hazards of ingesting the water.

But the mad scientist tone of Mississippi policymaking goes much deeper. The state has been experimenting with the social and