CARLTON FLETCHER: Serving the ‘will of the people’ … if it’s the ‘right’ people

So thank your lucky stars you’ve got protection, Walk the line, and never mind the cost. And don’t wonder who them lawmen was protecting When they nailed the savior to the cross.

— Kris Kristofferson

Let’s go ahead and put an end to that lie politicians tell about “doing the will of the people.” Because recent poll numbers show that actions taken by the state legislature under the Gold Dome have little to do with the actual will of Georgia citizens.

A poll released by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution showed that 44% of state voters surveyed said abortion should be easier to obtain in Georgia. While that is not a majority of the people in the state, it is far more than the 18% who said an abortion should be harder to obtain and the 29% that said the current restrictions should remain.

Few people, especially women, want men who declare a single fertilized cell is a “human being” making decisions on their reproductive rights.

When it comes to health care in the state, there is an obvious disconnect between the actual will of the people and the desire of elected officials to show you that they — by god — intend to keep control of who gets insurance coverage. Perhaps their intent is to ensure that Georgia remains the state with the most uninsured citizens.

By refusing to fully expand Medicaid coverage, as 40 other states have done, and pushing Gov. Brian Kemp’s failed Pathways to Coverage plan, the state continues to lag in insurance coverage, leaving 1.4 million Georgians — including more than 500,000 children — with no coverage, even when polls show that 69% of the state’s population favors expansion. State officials’ claim that full expansion is too costly rings extremely hollow in light of the state’s $16 billion surplus, which is being used for frivolous and meaningless actions such as sending state National Guard troops to Texas.

The governor, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and other mostly Republican legislators say this is the year for school vouchers to be approved in Georgia, a move that will, essentially, supply millions of dollars in funding for private schools in the state, at the expense of public schools. While claiming the vouchers will provide opportunities for poor students at underperforming schools, the vouchers would not come close to providing enough to fund a year at these expensive schools, some of whose tuition is more than most state colleges.

But what the vouchers would do is allow mostly middle- and lower-upper-class families to enroll their kids in these expensive private schools. Suffering would be public schools, many of which are struggling just to keep doors open.

What the officials don’t acknowledge is that 60% of Georgians surveyed strongly disapprove of this proposed voucher program.

Along those lines, while legislators boast about “standing on the Capitol steps to support Gov. Kemp’s decision to send Georgia Guard troops to Texas to help stop the flow of illegal immigrants into the country,” a number of state voters are rumbling about this decision that’s seen as either a) political posturing by Kemp in advance of future political prospects or b) an attempt to embarrass the federal government as the November presidential election approaches.

What these issues show, in essence, is that the so-called will of the people has little to nothing to do with today’s politics. The only people whose will is even considered as politicians make their back-room deals to satisfy large donors and rev up their dedicated base are those who are willing to show enough green to get the elected officials’ attention. And with a $16 billion surplus to do with what they will, it’s going to take a whole lot of that green to even get them to notice.

Besides, who knows the will of the people better than a bunch of rich old white men?