Georgia has a credibility gap. From the right, the credibility stemmed from the fact that people did their jobs and stood up for the facts: Dickhead lost and no amount of threats and rejiggering was going to “find” the votes needed to change that. In fact the system worked as intended: people voted and the majority voted Not For Dickhead. And that was a problem for the state government who naturally assumed that things would go their way. And when it didn’t? Well, clearly something needed to be done to prevent Georgians from exercising their rights. Thus creating a credibility gap now on the left.
The state government, and more importantly the GOP majority, decided that the only way to correct the situation have done all they could to disenfranchise voters, mostly minority, mostly democratic, to help ensure that their perception of balance would be restored. More importantly, they would be perceived as “doing something”, which as leaders they were responsible to do, to get their cattle back in line.
Reducing the window for absentee ballots, ID requirements, and shifting hours to make it harder for working-class people to vote are all part of the plan. The cherry is the prohibition on handing out food or water to people who are waiting in line. Because a bottle of water or a cupcake is surely the quickest way to buy a vote, not, say… what the candidate represents or how they might have behaved.
And then there’s the little part where the GOP just decided to grab the State Election Board all for themselves. Because. With that little move the party in question can take over election offices, limit voting times and locations, as well as remove absentee drop boxes.
I’m sorry, what problem did this fix? Oh right, the one where the majority voted how they wanted, and not how the state government wanted. And when you link that to the statement that the Governator Brian Kemp made that “With Senate bill 202, Georgia will take another step toward ensuring our elections are secure, accessible and fair,” you realize that is isn’t about being fair to citizens, it’s about being fair to those in power. Fuck the citizenry.
Well it didn’t take too long before other entities decided to apply the same arbitrary and capricious use of authority to tell Georgia how they felt about these changes. Specifically the most recent example of Major League Baseball announcing that they would up-stakes and take their all-star game and go elsewhere. I mean it’s their ball, they can play with it where they like.
Consequences. They do exist, no matter how you choose to call them. Expressing yourself with your purse is not new, and not unusual. And for all the weak-kneed, bandying about of “cancel” culture – when you decide to “cancel” someone’s right to vote someone else is going to decide to “cancel” their interactions with you.
Speaking up and speaking out is the American way. Sometimes it can wreak havoc, as the past 4 years demonstrated, but there is a stabilizing gravitational attraction generated by the opinion of the majority. And when the few and powerful decide to ignore that pull, it’s the job of everyone who objects to remind those few of their place.
Well Mr. Kemp, you wanted to put Georgia on people’s mind, so here you are. Enjoy.