Top Three Takeaways – January 5th, 2021
- Georgia’s on our minds. As a born Georgian, who was raised in suburban Atlanta, the Ray Charles song was a bit of an anthem – at least when not riding MARTA – they’d often play midnight train to Georgia after Braves games. Since Election Day I’ve thought a lot about my home state and how much has changed since I left for South Florida 16 years ago. Back then Georgia was a reliably Republican state. In the last Presidential election I voted in prior to leaving Georgia, the 2004 election, George W. Bush won the state by 17%. That’s how much has changed politically. In fact, it was in that election cycle that the most recent Democrat elected to the Senate in the state, Zell Miller, spoke at the Republican National Convention rejecting his party as having abandoned its roots and JFK Democrats like him. But that was then, and the Democrats of 2004 look downright conservative compared to the party’s platform today. That’s why Georgia’s on all of our minds today.
- Today is the exception. I’ve long offered the message that every election has consequences and it’s often those closest to us which have the biggest impact in our daily lives. Most days and in most cycles that’s true. For example, as important as the President of the United State is, with rare exceptions like the declaration of war for example – your mayor’s policy or even your HOA’s policy often has a more profound impact on your life in a typical day. That’s because the founder's setup a government complete with checks and balances. In order to have radical change in our society, there must be two components. First, a political party dedicated to radical change. Second, that party must have complete control over the government. It’s not unusual for one political party to control all branches of the federal government, Republicans controlled the federal government as recently as just over two years ago. It is rare that there is a filibuster proof majority with a party bent on radical change. That most recently happened during the first two years of the Obama administration and it’s what resulted in the passage of Obamacare. Whatever happens tonight in Georgia, Democrats won’t hold a super-majority either, at most they’ll hold 50 seats in the US Senate. But because this isn’t even the Democratic party rejected by Zell Miller, or even the one from the Obama years who left the Senate filibuster, requiring 60 votes to pass legislation, in place. That’s because...
- “Everything’s on the table”. That’s a quote from Senate Democrat leader Chuck Schumer earlier this cycle. Perhaps most concerning is that was his answer to questions asked of him regarding the senate legislative filibuster, adding Washington D.C. as a state and packing the U.S. Supreme Court. Today is an exception and here we sit in South Florida helpless and voteless as we watch the future of the Republic play out in Georgia. Now, because I’m not wired to do nothing, here’s something we can consider in South Florida. Who our politicians of each party resemble. Increasingly South Florida’s Democrats have more closely resembled the AOC’s of the political realm as compared to the JFK’s. This was especially true with now former Congresswomen Donna Shala and Debbie Mucarsal-Powell who literally had voting records to the left of AOC and among the most liberal in the country. As we enter the new congress with the potential of “everything being on the table”, we should be engaged with our representatives seeing to it that they represent our interests as opposed to the perceived interests of the AOC wing of the Democratic party – regardless of what happens tonight.
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