The glorious state of Georgia’s historic role

The beautiful state of Georgia has always been one of my favorites, especially because it’s home to one of my most preferred US presidents, Jimmy Carter, and also of my favorite American hero, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. It’s also notable because it is the home of CNN, aside from Coca-Cola. The last run-off senatorial polls in Georgia changed the course of US politics and completed the Democrats' victory. Both houses of Congress, aside from the White House, are now controlled by the Democrats.

Two years ago, I had the pleasure of visiting Atlanta and I saw how nice and very tourist-friendly the city and suburban people of that great city are. Georgia is bordered in the north by the state of Tennessee, and the states of the two Carolinas, to the south by Florida, to the west by Alabama. In the southeast, it’s bound by the Atlantic Ocean. It has a total population of almost 11 million with eight million voters. This state has always been a red state or controlled by Republicans after the Carter presidency. Carter (Democrat) is from Plains, Georgia. He was a peanut farmer who was a state governor and later president from 1977 to 1981. Atlanta, Georgia's capital is also its biggest city with six million people. Georgia was the last among the 13 colonies that formed the USA and the fourth state to ratify the US Constitution in 1788.

Last elections, Democrats Rev. Rafael Warnock and Jon Ossoff defeated two Republican incumbents. Warnock won over Kelly Loeffler, the wealthiest US senator, and made history as the first black senator from Georgia, and only the eleventh colored member of the US Senate. Ossoff also made history as the first Jewish Georgia senator and, at 33, is the youngest US senator. He defeated David Perdue, a very influential politician. The historic victory of Joe Biden over Donald Trump last November and the win of Warnock and Ossoff flipped the state of Georgia from red to blue. With their victory, there will be 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans in the US Senate. And since the Senate president is also the US Vice President Kamala Harris, all partisan voting will always be even or tied, and the vice president will always break the impasse in favor of the Democrats. This means that Chuck Schumer, Democrat from the state of New York will be Senate majority leader. The outgoing majority leader, Mitch McConnell will become minority leader.

When a party controls the Senate, that group will have tremendous advantage in terms of ease and speed in the passage of policy legislations, like the Democrats' Obamacare and Donald Trump’s many anti-migration measures. More importantly, the administration's Cabinet nominees will be easily and expeditiously confirmed by the Senate, treaties with allies can be confirmed with some degree of urgency, and the budget can easily be passed. Senate control also assures that any attempt to impeach the president or the vice president won’t succeed. With the Democrat's controlling the Lower House, no impeachment complaint can pass. That’s the importance of party control by the administration. That’s why Trump's three nominees to the US Supreme Court were confirmed immediately when the Republicans controlled the senate.

Therefore, Georgia made a landmark achievement in support of Biden. The incoming president will have a better chance to govern with more chances of success and there will be less acrimony between the executive and the legislative. Georgia's incumbent governor, Brian Kemp, and lieutenant governor Geoff Duncan are both Republicans, and the state's delegations to the US House of Representatives are composed of eight Republicans and six Democrats. Georgia is the also home of the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., an African-American Baptist minister and human rights activist famous for his “I Have a Dream" speech. He won the Nobel Prize in 1964 for combating racial inequality. He was assassinated in 1968 and became the rallying hero for the black peoples' struggle against racial discrimination and police brutality against colored people.

Georgia's anthem is "Georgia on my Mind” and its motto is “Wisdom, Justice, and Moderation”. The presidential elections last November and the senatorial run-off this month are historic milestones in US politics. And Georgia, among the 50 states in America, played the tipping point, the strategic turning point in the American history. The future generations will remember 2020 due to COVID-19 and 2021 because of Georgia's flip from red to blue.