Georgia On My Mind
At the risk of sounding hyperbolic, the political future of the United States might just lie in the hands of Georgia's voters. Whether our republic rises and someday fulfills the lofty ideals set by its founders to ensure equality and justice for all, or descends into the chaos of racial division, injustice, and partisan politics, may well depend on whether Georgia voters elect a qualified candidate, or vote along party lines and elect a glaringly unqualified contender, who lacks political experience.
The qualified candidate, incumbent Raphael Warnock, elected in 2021, is Georgia's junior United States senator. The first Black Democrat elected to the Senate by a former state of the Confederacy, and the first to represent the State of Georgia. Warnock's reelection would help cement the Democrat's hold on the Senate. And with another state pickup, possibly release Joe Biden's agenda from the clutches of Virginia Senator Joe Manchin.
Conversely, the unqualified contender, former football star, business executive, and Trump ally, Herschel Walker, might help the Republicans regain the Senate. Where Walker, a political novice with no discernible policy positions, would be as malleable as clay in the hands of Mitch McConnell. Add Donald Trump's influence to the mix, and Voilà, the United States, would soon circle the proverbial drain. Hyperbole? Hardly.
Georgia. Oh, Georgia. Please come through. If peace, we will find, the road leads back to you!
Why we continually put our republic in the hands of those who are not concerned with its best interest will be the subject of greater minds than mine for decades to come. My focus, however, is the fact that we do and how it affects us.
Through carefully crafted media campaigns, the suggestion that we should vote for Washington outsiders, and non-politicians, has led us to elect many highly idealistic people with questionable, if not destructive, agendas. Think Tea Party, Marjory Taylor Greene, and Donald Trump, among others.
The resulting combination of political inexperience, limited knowledge of foreign policy, and kitchen table solutions to complex issues, has eroded the world's perception of the United States as a global leader.
Instead, our foreign and domestic policy primarily focuses on issues that placate the GOP base to keep Republicans in power. For example, restricting immigration, expelling the adult children of undocumented workers brought to the United States as minors, limiting the rights of the LGBTQ community, banning abortion, and endlessly creating and passing more laws extending religious freedom.
Voting against the best interests of us all, in the belief that favoritism and divisive policies will somehow return us to a time when life in America was better, is a fool's notion. And only serves those who use it to con people whose fear has made them unwilling to share this nation with its other citizens.
However, let me be clear. Although partisan politics, a focus on remaining in power, and the ideas and agendas of inexperienced politicians have divided us and might, inevitably, lead to our social destruction, it was how we voted or that we didn't vote that put them there!
Elections have consequences!
It might serve us well to remember that.
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