By Tac O'Hara
http://theanticritic.com
The government of the state of Georgia
works under one of the most convoluted and confusing
structures of government in the lower 50. The Georgia
General Assembly, which has made virtually no
organizational advances since its 1777 inception is
the body by which Georgia makes its rules. And what a
bloated body it is. Your typical sumo wrestler would
be jealous.
The General Assembly is made up of two bodies, the House and the Senate. Those bodies consist of 180 and 56 members, respectively. Of those two groups the first is divided into 36 standing committees while the second is divided into 26. Each member of Senate must serve on at least 3 committees while the House, even though the ratio of committees-to-members is larger, is allowed to serve on less. Is this easy to follow?
The House is led by an elected partisan who promotes the interests of the majority. The Senate is led by a non-Senate elected, non-Senate member who is 2nd in command to the governor. He could be a non-partisan or bi-partisan. There is also a third head, the floor leader who represents only the interests of the Governor. Are we making sense yet?
The General Assembly meets for only 40 days each calendar year starting in January and those days are not necessarily consecutive. Those 40 days are spent with the 236 members making up 66 committees led by 66 chairmen, some of which are chosen by a non-partisan while the majority are chosen by a bi-partisan. Add to this, the Georgia General Assembly has complete legislative power and even though the people of Georgia have ultimate sovereignty under Georgia’s constitution, they have no control or input regarding lawmaking. Yet, with all this hierarchical confusion, this is not even the toughest predicament facing Georgia’s top public servants.
So, just what is the challenge that faces this upcoming Georgia General Assembly? It’s the same problem that dominates every legislation session: You have politicians making laws to advance their political ambitions, instead of learned, statesmen seeking what is best for their people. This is why the dominant issue already this year is “water.” No matter that the drought is controlled by nature and recent flood-like rains have shown the comeback of Georgia’s water supply. Senators and Congressmen alike have already been posturing to follow the newspapers, namely the AJC, and make this the “important” issue of this season.
Hopefully it won’t be like last year’s debacle, that they billed as protection of Georgia’s children, the sex offender law (HB1059). That fiasco still has a life of its own with lawsuits galore and a gaggle of nationwide laughing-stock-stories regarding Georgia’s decent into mindless hysteria; not to mention unmitigated logic, rampant injustice and unstudied decision-making.
Will Georgia lawmakers learn a lesson from the past and really tackle issues that improve the state’s quality of life or will they continue to be all about partisanship and posturing? Will they make lots of noise on issues that whimper and thud? It’s up to us, not them. Let’s make our voices known and tell them that the status quo must go!! Say that with me. The status quo, must go. Now, In your best Johnny Cochran voice, THE STATUS QUO, MUST GO!!
When it comes down to it, we are just as much a part of the status quo as our state politicians. Our do nothing, don’t care attitudes and actions have given license to too many years of lame-o politics. Our apathy and inaction is baking bread for their sloth sandwich. Get up and get to it. And take someone with you. Call, write or fax it. THE STATUS QUO, MUST GO!!
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