The state of Georgia, after passing some new voter regulations, is getting a stiff dose of consequences have actions. Most notably, Major League Baseball (MLB) decided to pull its plans to have the 2021 All-Star game in Atlanta. MLB is getting stiff feedback from many of Georgia's politicians who vehemently bemoan the loss of revenue that the game would have provided. This is a classic example of an economic sanction.
But Georgia's Republican government led by the governor tried to pull a fast one by passing a law straight out of the Jim Crow era. The numbers are clear unless severe voter suppression is used, the Republican party is facing an uphill battle to win anything in Georgia. Perhaps it is the blatant nature with which this law was passed that created such a strong response. When you have a provision in a law that purports to enhance democracy that would prevent someone from giving a drink of water to someone in a long line, then you know the reaction will be swift. The comparison is not without merit, where the separate but equal notion at the heart of Jim Crow America yielded some ridiculous examples. How about city parks checking out separate balls and chess sets for black and white patrons? Look it up, it really happened. Check out C Van Woodward's classic, The Strange Career of Jim Crow if you want to see the degree of ludicrousness this era endured. Of course, all this could be prevented by having mail-in ballots, like my home state has had for years, but no, Georgia's new law wants to close polling places by 5:00pm eliminating any chance of voting for folks who work till 5 or later on weekdays.
The Georgia law is mean-spirited. What's worse is that their defense of this law is both racist and unjust. Enter MLB. Hopefully, by leading the way in a political stance based on morality, others will follow. Hit 'em in the wallet and they suddenly remember that politics has an ethical component and that they might not be able to pull off something so unjust so easily.
In his defense, the Governor of Georgia likened MLB's decision to "cancel culture." Now, that's a real false equivalency. Was ending Jim Crow in the US through decisions like Brown v Board of Ed cancel culture? What about apartheid in South Africa? Or was it the right thing to do?
A former colleague of mine used to have a large sign in her classroom that said, "Even Your Sandwich is Political." It functioned as a sort of Zen koan, with more than one student puzzling over the meaning. I'm sure it led to many fascinating discussions and possibly implicated the contents of a lunchbox or two.
I tip my SF Giants hat to MLB for having the guts to lead the way here. Hopefully, others will follow. Some already have.
People in our culture also vote with their dollars. If you try to suppress voting as a right for all the people, their dollar vote can easily knock you out of the game. It's one thing to cancel, it's quite another to place morality smack dab in the middle of political action. Rousseau once suggested that the person who tries to use politics without morality understands neither.
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