In a few short days new and veteran lawmakers of the Great State of Mississippi will head to the Capitol with a new governor, lieutenant governor and, most obviously, a different political party in the majority.

Big changes? Probably not. The governor-elect, Phil Bryant, cut his political teeth on the political coattails of the outgoing, strong, aggressive Gov. Haley Barbour. The lieutenant governor-elect has been in Jackson and state government for most of his career. Neither is expected to change dramatically his style just because he has a new title.

The greatest potential for change is in the lawmaking body. For the first time in more than 100 years, the majority of the 122 members of the House of Representatives will be registered with the Republican Party instead of the Democratic Party.

We say party-shmarty. We say the job of legislating is about doing the right thing, be it for the voters, their children or their children’s children and being as responsible as possible to carry out the wishes of the constituencies.

The last Legislature — the 122 representatives and the 52 members of the upper body, the Senate — could not make a decision on redrawing the state’s legislative lines that determine the makeup of the bodies. That failure to act has been and will be costly.

It’s costing money to prepare information for potential litigation, it’s costing money for elections that probably will be scheduled next year to pick lawmakers for the new districts — had the lines been drawn earlier, the voting along the new lines could have come in the just-completed election season — and, most importantly, it is costing faith Mississippians could have had in the legislators.

Had they acted with the efficiency and timeliness expected by voters, the party-affiliation makeup might not have been so different from the last Legislature’s.

Lawmakers, there’s your sign. Get in there, cut through the layers of politics, refuse to be swayed by your own wishes. Do the job for which you were elected. Draw the lines, and then get on with taking care of this Great State of Mississippi.