As an independent political thinker, I have always held disdain for political parties for the exact same reason our first president, George Washington, did.
Washington is the only president that did not belong to a political party.
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Long before the term “groupthink” had been coined, Washington understood the dangers of political parties, commenting in his Farewell Address, that they “become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.”
It is important to note that Washington watched from an ocean away as groupthink caused the French Revolution to go from a protest for liberty, to a situation where the rule of law was set aside and a bloodbath ensued.
I know that calling for an end to national political parties is jousting at windmills; but I think we might be able to agree that partisan politics have no reason to exist at the local level. If you allow me, I will posit the reasons why.
Augusta Judicial Circuit Chief Judge Danny Craig made the right decision, in my estimation, to retire near the end of his current term and allow for a nonpartisan election to occur as opposed to retiring early and allowing the governor to name a replacement.
I have not talked to the esteemed judge about his decision, but I think I have known him long enough to understand at least part of his methodology of thought.
Richmond County has long been a Democratic party stronghold and Craig was astute in understanding that anyone appointed by a Republican governor in today’s political climate was going to face stiff opposition at the next election, no matter their performance on the bench.
Craig has long held nonpartisanship on the bench as being sacred, so I believe he would have made the same decision no matter who or what party occupied the governor’s office.
However, as Washington warned, there are others out there for whom the only thing sacred is their ability to use their elected office to climb to even higher office and gain more political power, even if it means brazenly violating their oath of office.
Jared Williams, who ran and won the Augusta Judicial Circuit district attorney’s seat as a Democrat, quickly showed where his loyalty lies.
A quick view of Williams’ campaign disclosures show he received thousands of dollars from Democratic party controlled entities. The Columbia, Richmond and Burke County Democrats funded his campaign, as well as extreme left leaning PACs.
So, it was absolutely no surprise that, in response to that Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, Williams announced he would not be prosecuting healthcare professionals over decisions involving reproductive health and would not enforce Georgia’s Heartbeat Law.
It doesn’t matter how one personally views the validity of a certain law, Williams’ oath of office requires him to conduct his business enforcing the law and he blatantly and arrogantly refused.
To discover why, all I needed to do was follow the money.
I have known Coroner Mark Bowen for a very long time and consider him a friend. After all of these years, I cannot tell you if Bowen votes Democrat or Republican when he goes to the polls.
As friends, we would rather talk about fishing, being dads, raising kids and baseball than politics.
In his elected position, that is absolutely the way it should be, no one should know his political affiliations. The Coroner is expected to be a compassionate and professional Constitutional officer at the most somber of occasions and follow the law when it comes to matters involving death, the public does not need to know his, or his party’s, stand on gay marriage when deciding if he is the right person for the job.
So why is Bowen forced to declare a political party and therefore embrace a party’s groupthink to run for an office that should never be partisan in its day-to-day operations?
Also, as we have seen in the last election for the Richmond County Sheriff, another office that should be nonpartisan doing its routine business, there was extreme confusion at the polls. Despite nearly all local media making the public service statement that to vote in the sheriff’s race, voters needed to request a Democratic ballot, people still requested a Republican ticket and were angry they did not get to vote in the sheriff’s race.
We have seen Washington’s warning pathetically come to life on the national stage and that should give us all the more impetus to demand that the General Assembly declare that all local city and countywide races be strictly nonpartisan and make it illegal for political parties and PACs of all kinds to donate in those races.
Scott Hudson is the Senior Investigative Reporter and Editorial Page Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
