Georgia GOP Revises Reconstruction and threatens the Profits of Big Business

 

No other adage can be counted upon to be proven true than the adage which says that history repeats itself.  This is abundantly evident with the newest moves from the Georgia State GOP. 

According to the Associated Press dot com, in an article titled “Georgia House passes GOP bill rolling back voting access”, it is reported that “Republican lawmakers in Georgia muscled legislation through the state House on Monday that would roll back voting access, over the objection of Democrats and civil rights groups gathered at the Capitol to protest.  The bill comes after record turnout led to Democratic wins in Georgia’s presidential election and two U.S. Senate runoffs. House Bill 531 passed the lower legislative chamber by a vote of 97-72. It now goes to the state Senate for more debate. The far-reaching bill would require a photo ID for absentee voting, limit the amount of time voters have to request an absentee ballot, restrict where ballot drop boxes could be located and when they could be accessed, and limit early voting hours on weekends, among many other changes. It is one of a flood of election bills being pushed by GOP lawmakers across the country this year that would add new barriers to voting. Republicans say the measure is needed to restore the public’s confidence in elections, after former President Donald Trump and his allies relentlessly pushed false claims about fraud. “House Bill 531 is designed to begin to bring back the confidence of our voters back into our election system,” said Republican Rep. Barry Fleming, the measure’s chief sponsor”.

Compare it to this nation’s history according to National Geographic in their article titled “The Black Codes and Jim Crow Laws”, they say that “One of the first reactions against Reconstruction was to deprive African-American men of their voting rights. While the 14^th and 15^th Amendments prevented state legislatures from directly making it illegal to vote, they devised a number of indirect measures to disenfranchise black men. The grandfather clause said that a man could only vote if his ancestor had been a voter before 1867—but the ancestors of most African-Americans citizens had been enslaved and constitutionally ineligible to vote. Another discriminatory tactic was the literacy test, applied by a white county clerk. These clerks gave black voters extremely difficult legal documents to read as a test, while white men received an easy text. Finally, in many places, white local government officials simply prevented potential voters from registering.

The question which should be asked of those pushing this lie is, when you say “restore the confidence of our voters back into our election system” do they mean Republican voters or every voter?  If they are only speaking of restoration of confidence for just republican voters, then the problem that appears to have been over-looked is the intended or unintended results of attempting to hold down groups of people who have proven time and time again that they will not be silenced.

A power that was unknown to the oppressed back in the Reconstruction Era but is widely known to these communities now is the real impact each of these groups combined has over the economy of any federal, state, or local government.

I speak of the information found in an article called “Black Impact: Consumer Categories where African Americans Move Markets” which can be found at Nielsen dot com.  In this article, it is made clear that “Black consumers account for a disproportionate amount of product sales in a number of fast-moving consumer goods categories. With $1.2 trillion in spending power, African-American consumers are an important population for smart brands that want to grow market share and brand preference. More importantly, the data suggests that Black consumer spending already significantly affects the bottom line in many categories and industries, and brands can’t afford to lose favor or traction with this segment without potential negative impact. “When it comes to African-American consumer spend, there are millions, sometimes billions of dollars in revenue at stake,” said Andrew McCaskill, Senior Vice President, Global Communications and Multicultural Marketing, Nielsen.

So Georgia GOP and all the others who truly wish to return to the Reconstruction Era may get there way for now but what happens to big business’ profits when those who are greatly affected by their actions begin to decide to move this huge spending revenue from them and take it to others who are seen to be visually and constantly fighting alongside of them?  Not sure if big business wishes to answer to shareholders about smaller dividend checks, risk loss of their wealth, their generational positions in their communities or even their kids’ college funds.