As I write this,
my ballot is cast. And by the time you
read these words, maybe we’ll know how the votes stacked up on May 22. Even if there are no runoff races, the
campaign is just getting into gear for the November showdown.
How
about you?
I had a hard
time making up my mind in too many races.
I know what the political strategists say: “Attack, attack, attack!” Those
high-dollar advisers preach that negative attack ads are the only way to move
the needle in the polls.
Maybe I’m the
oddball, but mudslinging doesn’t do it for me.
We’ve heard
plenty about guns, gangs, education and illegal immigrants. Those are hot-button topics, but what we
haven’t heard anything about is one of our most valuable assets—Georgia’s
natural resources.
Aren’t our
environment and its protection worth mentioning somewhere in all this campaign
chatter? If a candidate—Democrat or
Republican—has promised to take a stand for the environment, I must have
snoozed through that pledge.
No, I don’t
want the government taking my guns.
Yes, I want our
children well-educated and our
teachers well-paid.
Yes, I want to
be safe from gang violence.
Yes, I want
Georgia to continue to be the best place in America to do business.
Jobs—good-paying
jobs—are a cure for many social ills. We
want Georgia’s economy to be vibrant and growing. But hold on right there. Not all jobs are worth the money or risks if
they harm our environment.
What good is a
job if you don’t have safe water to drink or clean air to breathe?
Shouldn’t we be
educating our children about the importance of being responsible stewards of
the environment so that our water and air are healthy?
Do I need to
mention toxic coal ash?
Yes, I do.
Why?
Because our
political leadership has succumbed to industrial pressures to keep Georgia’s
regulations too lax on this poisonous waste.
And that’s why other states—such as Florida and the Carolinas—are using
Georgia as its dumping grounds. Right
now, convoys of dump trucks are rolling into the Peach State to deposit
mountains of toxic coal ash.
Georgians
should be outraged.
Our leaders
should be ashamed.
Score one for
the polluters and their lobbyists.
dnesmith@cninewspapers.com
-->