Another Georgia Official Makes Us Proud … Er, Perhaps Not
Our lovely state has a rich and lasting tradition of electing politicians who make us cringe and duck for cover because of the stupid, silly and ignorant words that spew out of their mouths. Congressman John Lewis (D-Atlanta), a proud and respected figure of the Civil Rights movement, provided one of the more memorable flaps of the 2008 campaign when he compared John McCain to 1960s segregationist and presidential candidate George Wallace.
But perhaps even more egregious and asinine are the recent comments by Congressman Paul Broun (R-Athens). In recent days he has twice stood by his comparisons of President-elect Barack Obama to Hitler and Marxism. Any time someone draws comparison with the Nazis, you can bet they are overstepping. But the worst part of it all is that Broun’s criticisms stem from Obama’s support for a civilian national security force. Broun thinks such a force would be tantamount to establishing the Gestapo in America. The problem is, this kind of force already exists. The idea for a “Civilian Response Corps,” as it is officially known, emerged a few years ago and has received bipartisan support and approval by the Bush administration.
While Broun is free to disagree with establishing this civilian force, laying the blame for it on Obama is both disingenuous and intellectually dishonest. It is a cheap attempt to score political points, and he comes off as either uneducated about the existence of this force or downright self-contradictory. As voters, we deserve more discretion and less fear-mongering from our elected officials. After all, they serve at our pleasure.
Learn more about the Civilian Response Corps by going here.
Since we’re at it, let’s have a look at other great moments in Georgia political flap history.
A few years ago, state senator Nancy Shaefer (R-Habersham) said, “50 million abortions have been performed in this country, causing a shortage of cheap American labor. We could have used those people.” Yikes! Shaefer also blamed Hurricane Katrina on homosexual behavior in New Orleans. She clearly models herself in the fashion of Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson.
In 2007, state congressman Ben Bridges (R-Cleveland) circulated a memo that said evolutionary theory was a conspiracy drummed up by Pharisees and Kabbala-teaching Rabbis. The anti-Semitic and anti-science memo also challenged the Copernican model of the solar system. Bridges apparently believes that the Earth does not orbit the sun, despite this debate having been put to rest several hundred years ago. Perhaps he thinks the Earth is flat, too. Bridges later denied circulating the memo, but he did express his agreement with what it said. Bridges has also sponsored unsuccessful legislation to ban the teaching of evolution in public schools across the state.
Read more about Bridges antics here.
This is by no means an exhaustive list. So please share other flaps you know of with us.