In what has been a tumultuous political cycle, it is no secret that the upcoming midterms will be filled with tight races and a window into the current political climate. Will outrage over Roe v. Wade be enough to drive Democrats to the polls or will they lose their slight Senate majority? While I was always going to vote, I am especially motivated by the embarrassing Republican Georgia Senate candidate – the one and only Herschel Walker. My wonderful home state, you have outdone yourself with this one.
America’s relationship with football is one that I will never understand; however, I recognize that that’s a me thing, and for many the sport is important. One thing it most definitely is not is a qualification to represent Georgians in the Senate. While it is an impressive accomplishment to win the Heisman, I urge Georgians (especially UGA fans) to not be blinded by a football jersey and pay attention to the dangerous rhetoric that Walker spreads. He is a puppet for former President Trump – the still golden boy of the party that is actively taking away women’s rights and failing to fight climate change.
I will not let myself dive too deep into the hypocrisy that Walker embodies, but I will say that it is on the same ridiculous level as that of an SNL skit. A particular favorite quote of mine is Walker’s ideas about how air quality works: “since we don’t control the air, our good air decided to float over to China’s bad air so when China gets our good air, their bad air got to move. So it moves over to our good air space. Then now we got to clean that back up, while they’re messing ours up.” Wise words from a University of Georgia alumnus who is indeed not a UGA alumnus – he did not graduate. There are also the multiple children from multiple women and the abuse allegations. He is a fascinating choice for the party of family values and traditional morals. Republicans market themselves through a false narrative and never hold themselves accountable to the ideas that they promote. It is oppressive and ridiculous.
I urge everyone to vote, and to my Georgia residents, there are two very important races occurring with Stacey Abrams once again challenging Brian Kemp for governor. Kemp has also been an instrument of Trump’s with his mishandling of the pandemic and signing into law the Heartbeat Bill, he does not deserve another term. For maybe the first time, I was a proud Georgia resident when the state went blue in the 2020 election and played a pivotal role in ousting Trump from office. How wonderful it would be for this pattern to continue and have Georgia be the first state to elect a black female governor. It could be emblematic of a brighter future for a state riddled with a troubled past.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/10/hershel-walker-perfectly-embodies-gop/671758/