When you arrive in Georgia on a major interstate, the sign says "Welcome to Georgia--We're glad that Georgia's on your mind."
Sometimes I get to live in Georgia, but not right now. Yet, Georgia's on my mind every day. Mainly that's because there are some significant elections under way and I'm not there to vote--or to protest the requirement for a permanent picture ID where, not so long ago, a signature and a smile were considered validation enough.
For more particulars go to the jump.
When I can be in Georgia, I live in the First District, currently being "served" by the leader of the Republican Theme Team, Jack Kingston, whose selection wasn't even contested the last time out.
This time there's a super Democratic candidate. A Reverend and a veteran who knows the score about war, Jim Nelson will represent the people of South Georgia in Washington, instead of the other way around.
How do I know? Well, because the theme guy, despite all his experience seems sort of clueless--promising to chase down illegal immigrants, before he even knows who they are, and isn't going to want to find, because they're all building his friends' mansions on the coast. And it's hard to see how threatening the President of Venezuela, who's actually selling heating oil to us at a discount, is going to make Georgians feel better about the price of gas. And it certainly isn't going improve the schools, clean up the toxins in our rivers or increase the income of our shrimpers.
I guess it was just in case I'd been forgetful that I got an email from Hank Johnson, the day after the primary, urging me to increase my support. Since I don't live in the Fourth District and never contacted his campaign, I could only conclude that somebody had sold him my address and that was a bit irksome.
Even more irksome was seeing an ad everytime I visited KOS, telling me to "Beat Cynthia McKinney" (that ad is now gone--thank you). Which reminded me that I was in Georgia voting when Cynthia McKinney was turned out by a person, whose experience was in no way comparable in terms of representing the people of Georgia and, as might have been predicted, discovered after one term that it was just too much work. I'd like to think that these candidates are being "put up" by Republican'ts to run as Democrats under the assumption that the voters in the Fourth District are too dumb to choose on the basis of performance, rather than press relations. Surely the Democratic Party of Georgia wouldn't stoop so low.
Thank goodness it looks like the trick won't work this time around. Why else would they be sending operatives to leave derogatory statements on democratic blogs like BFA?
But what's really bothersome about the attacks on Cynthia McKinney is that I think her position on ID cards, especially for members of Congress, is right on point.
Why wouldn't security personnel guarding the doors of Congress and, presumably, the members be trained to recognize the people they're looking after on sight. Why aren't they trained not only to recognize, but to greet them by name? That's a hard thing for someone who's used to having the volunteers at the polls back in Georgia recognize voters even if they only show up to vote once every couple of years.
And isn't that why so many people are moving to Georgia? 'Cause it's a place where minding is important; where people remember who you are, even if you've been away for a while. Georgians are glad they're on your mind, 'cause they're mindful of you as well.
And that's why how someone who says "Beat Cynthia" can expect to represent the people of Georgia is really beyond comprehension and more than irksome.