When Texas Gov. Greg Abbott recently refused to throw out the first pitch at the Texas Rangers opening day due to Major League Baseball’s removal of the all-star game from Atlanta, I got to thinking: Has the left-wing politically correct crowd finally gone too far?
I also think it’s very interesting that the governor of Texas had to stick up for the state of Georgia. But I digress.
At the core of this recent debate is a new law in Georgia that seeks to reform some excesses that have developed in the voting processes in that state. Much like the morally corrupt “ballot harvesting” allowed in the state of California, some very unethical practices have taken root in Georgia.
Like what?
Like trying to influence voters waiting in line to vote by handing out food and water. This is a little trick employed predominantly by special interest organizations through handing out refreshments in voter lines. Even if nothing is said to the voter like “remember to vote for Steve,” the goody delivery can be made wearing a shirt that says “Vote Democrat.”
Clearly, this is electioneering, regardless of what the left says.
What else?
Like allowing potential absentee voter fraud by only requiring matching signatures. Georgia will discourage fraud and offers several ways of proving voter identity, including driver’s license number, state ID, or the last four digits of a Social Security number. All of which are free, by the way.
Who wouldn’t have one of these forms of ID? Anyone applying for state services would have to possess one of these. To argue that a person of color does not have one of these IDs because of their color is, in itself, a racist assertion.
No, my leftist friends. Requiring identification on an absentee ballot prevents simple voter fraud in the fact that the fraudster is far less likely to have the voter’s ID information and cannot simply forge a signature.
What else?
The left has also claimed that polling place access will be greatly restricted in certain neighborhoods. What the law actually does is expand the early in-person voting access in most counties as well as mandating two Saturdays of early voting with an option of two Sundays as well.
It also sets limits on how many ballot drop boxes may be placed in an area. Frankly, in this era of COVID-19, many parts of the country were making up the rules on things like drop boxes as they went along. This Georgia law is intended to create some structure around this.
But “reasonable” isn’t what the left is about these days. Georgia, a state run by Republicans, went Democratic in the last presidential election. While I don’t buy President Donald Trump’s claims of “massive voter fraud,” it is clear that Georgia was embarrassed by a sloppy and undisciplined approach to the voting process.
How does MLB factor into all of this?
The manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Dave Roberts, receives the honor of managing the National League all-stars at the all-star game since his team won the World Series. When asked by the media if he would participate in the game being played in Atlanta, he said he was “undecided.”
Which is a good way of saying “no.”
MLB, in the face of the far-left narrative, cowardly caved and took the game from Atlanta. But now, a conservative backlash is forming as evidenced by the action of Gov. Abbott.
Maybe enough is enough.
I agree that we have allowed institutional racism to go on for far too long and we can do better. But you cannot see racism in every small thing that happens, even in Georgia. What I see in this example is the leaders of Georgia trying to create a level playing field for everyone to ensure the integrity of their system.
They don’t want a replay of 2020.
MLB now has a major problem. The All-Star Game is now highly politicized by withdrawing it from Atlanta. What mayor, Republican or Democrat, wants this turkey in their hometown? Refusing or accepting the game will make them a pariah to one side or the other.
If the game was left in Atlanta, MLB might have been able to ride out the storm by claiming the game is apolitical. I guess that is not possible anymore.
Kudos to Gov. Abbott for having the moral integrity to stand for what he believes in. We could use more of that in California.
Steve Lunetta is a resident of Santa Clarita and is still waiting for his shot at the big leagues. He can be reached at [email protected].
