It's None of My Business, But....

Or, maybe it is, since it's my district. Tomorrow, voters who live in HD 137 will choose between Allen Peake and Stebin Horne, both Republicans. There is no Democrat in the race, so I will not have the chance to cast a ballot. This was a crowded, four candidate, primary field, and in the primary, Peake bested Horne by a substantial margin. Some, including Horne, were a little surprised by this, but my husband called this race early when he was canvassing our precinct for Cathy and saw all the Peake signs in yards. (It took about fifteen minutes to canvass my precinct for Cathy. Lots of Republicans around here!)

I am not thrilled with either of these candidates. They both espouse ideology that is fundamentally different, in some very important ways, than what I believe. But, as I listened to ads on morning drive time radio in Macon today, I came to the conclusion that I hope Horne pulls this one out of the fire. (I do not expect a thank you note for my endorsement. It will probably help his opponent more than him.)

Horne is conservative and has all the Republican family values who-ha on his website, but I think that Peake is a neo-con cut from the same cloth as Staton. What a pair they would make in Atlanta. Plus, Peake keeps talking about running the state like a business. I get that government should careful guard taxpayer dollars, but government is about public service, not about making money. That's a key and important difference. In fact, wasn't it FDR who said that some things are more important than making a profit? Government ought to be about blending sound business principles with serving the people of this state.

Finally, both candidates toe the line on abortion. (Can you be a Republican in Georgia and support choice? I don't think so.)Horne favors the "three exceptions" rule, while Peake goes to the radical extreme of allowing for abortion only if the life of the mother is at stake. That's right, victims of rape, incest and child rape are SOL. I would love to have a conversation with him about who determines that the mother's life is at stake and what repercussions a physician might face if someone disagreed with their assessment. Don't think that it wouldn't happen. Our legislators have amazing expert capacity. They are experts on education, healthcare, economic development, law and social policy. Why not medicine as well? Perhaps we will end up with an abortion court, where mostly men will review evidence and determine whether or not a women can have an abortion.

Of course, a women's right to choose is an argument that has little relevance to the people in my neighborhood. I'm not suggesting they don't care about the issue. I'm surely not suggesting that no one here ever has to make that difficult choice. It's just that they generally have enough money to insure that the choice, to have an abortion where it is legal, can be made by their family, not by the Georgia legislature. Send Peake to the State House and, if he has his way, abortion will not be legal in Georgia for very long.

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