I was going through the May 2006 bound volume of The Vicksburg Post the other day preparing information for the Old Post Files feature when I came across The Associated Press story on U.S. Rep. G.V. “Sonny” Montgomery’s death.

I knew Sonny Montgomery well. I first met him in 1994, when I was working at The Meridian Star and he spoke at a function I was covering. At first, I was very skeptical of him, as I usually am about politicians, but the more I got to know him, the more I came to respect him.

My respect became greater when he helped me get into a meeting to cover a Base Realignment and Closure official speaking at Naval Air Station Meridian.

I’ll never forget his response when I told him the base command was preventing me from covering the speech, “That’s a bit above their pay grade to be making that decision.”

Sonny Montgomery was one of the last of a breed of politicians who would put their partisanship aside and work together for the good of the country.

Make no mistake, these elected officials were staunch Republicans and Democrats and they were very partisan when it came to their philosophies, but when it came time to act, they put aside their party mantles and put the interest of the country ahead of their personal interests and those of their parties.

I miss those men and women who were willing to serve instead of hold down a job.

There was a time, to borrow from a book about the relationship between President Ronald Reagan and House Speaker Tip O’Neal, “when politics worked,” when officials put the good of the country above themselves and their party.

Politics, I’ve always been told, is the art of compromise, something now lacking in Congress, where the people we’ve elected seem more devoted to special interests, loud-mouthed minority groups and their desire to stay in office rather than serve the majority of the people who elected them. Considering the choice we’ll have in November, it doesn’t look like things will change any time soon. No one’s in charge and no one wants to take the initiative to move the country forward.

Making America great is more than shooting your mouth off with demagoguery. It means putting aside partisan politics, working together, compromising and putting the country’s interests ahead of your own.

There are very few in office now with that philosophy.

What we need is less Donald Trump, less Ted Cruz, less Mitch McConnell and more people like Sonny Montgomery and the lawmakers he served with.

John Surratt is a staff writer at The Vicksburg Post. You may reach him at john.surratt@vicksburgpost.com. Readers are invited to submit their opinions for publication.