Most commentary around my home state of Georgia lately involves how unfairly Republicans are treating voters.
The law they passed is horrendous. Not just for criminalizing help for voters, but for how it lets the legislature take over the process in mid-stream. Republican legislators now have the power to control both the Secretary of State and local election officials. Combined with expected gerrymandering, observers believe it guarantees Republican control of the state, a return to the Jim Crow order that preceded the Civil Rights movement.
That remains possible.
But the move has also engendered a national backlash. The chances that some sort of national election reform passes the Congress is greatly enhanced. Many of the tricks played by Republican legislators, here and elsewhere, will be overturned by the national government.
As to the rest, don’t underestimate the people. Don’t be Roy Barnes.
Barnes, who turned 73 this month, was Governor of Georgia at the turn of the century. After GW Bush swept the state in 2000, and after a contentious battle to take the Confederate Battle Flag off the Georgia flag, Barnes rightly feared a Republican uprising in 2002. His response was an extreme gerrymander of the state legislature. He went so far as to create multi-legislator districts, big boundaries with Democratic majorities taking what could have been safe Republican seats.
It didn’t work. Not only did Republicans take over the state legislature, but Barnes lost re-election, to Democrat-turned-Republican Sonny Perdue. The current distrust between Georgia Republicans and Democrats dates from that time.
The point is you can’t stop a rising tide. Georgia is changing. Stacey Abrams, my former state rep, has energized Democrats like nothing seen before. Atlanta is now a major corporate headquarters. The region is a big tech center and will be a major cloud center. It’s the biggest movie center outside Hollywood.
Demographics and economics are powerful forces. They’re more powerful than any gerrymander. They were more powerful in 2002. I suspect they will be more powerful in 2022.
