Positive Feedback in Georgia

Virginia was the Old Confederacy’s seat of government, but I think of Georgia as the Modern South’s heart. It’s where General Sherman made his infamous scorched-earth March to the Sea, and regional resentments die hard. From 1872 until 2003, Georgia had only Democratic governors, and since then only Republicans. I guess Richard Nixon’s disgraceful “Southern Strategy” took some time to sink in.

In contrast, Virginia has had Democratic governors for all but six years of our new century. Anyway, the northern part of Virginia is practically a suburb of D.C., with wealth, education and non-Southern-born residents far outside the Southern norm.

So I think of Georgia (with North Carolina next) as the linchpin or fulcrum of the Modern South. Those of us who look longingly for a New South should look there first.

That’s why the Reverend Rafael Warnock’s second victory last night gave me so much joy. After the heartbreaking losses of three superbly qualified women in the general election—Stacey Abrams, Cheri Beasley, and Val Demings—it made me feel that change is coming, too slowly but surely.

Never mind that Warnock’s opponent was grossly unqualified. Never mind that Warnock’s victory was narrower than it should have been. He won by 2.6% of the vote: a solid, decisive win. He’s the first-ever Black Senator from Georgia, and he’s a smart, persuasive, true progressive with good political instincts. Even Governor Kemp’s last-minute push to aid Herschel Walker made no difference. Let’s take the win.

The win makes one conclusion obvious. The Demagogue’s reaching into Georgia to anoint Herschel Walker as the Republican candidate was spectacularly unhelpful. That lesson bodes well for the future of our nation and the Republican Party. In Georgia, the GOP will have to compete on good policy, not lies.

But there’s more, much more. On my first cruise, in 2001, I met a Black Navy veteran and his wife, and we made friends. He invited my then-wife and me to visit them in Atlanta, and we did. He regaled us with stories of Atlanta as a mecca for Black entrepreneurs. He told us about a Black man in his twenties who had come from Texas to Atlanta and had built a million-dollar business silk-screening T-shirts with original designs. My cruising friend and his wife lived in Stone Mountain—an old rallying spot for the Ku Klux Klan!—but he said his neighbors treated them with kindness and decency. That, if memory serves, was in 2002.

In early 2021, I read Charles Blow’s piece about moving to Atlanta from New York City, despite having grown to love that City. His reasons included feeling more comfortable in his own skin (literally!), plus enjoying a bigger chance to wield political power, in a place where Black people like him have much greater numbers. (As a Jew, albeit mostly assimilated, I see that same motive as what draws some American Jews—and many, many more from Russia and Europe—to Israel.)

In a much more recent piece, Blow doubled down on that second theme, supporting it with demographics. It does seem that a Great Reverse Migration of Black people is gathering steam. And for those who might doubt that the South is changing, Reverend Warnock’s free and fair election—not once but twice—could be a powerful inducement.

That’s positive feedback. The more educated, wealthy and politically savvy Black people migrate to the South (and vote), the more victories like Warnock’s there will be. And the more such victories there are, the more progressive Black people will be motivated to move South.

But Black political power is not the only source of positive feedback. Many people from all over the country are moving to the South for its relatively cheap housing and good weather. Those who respect competent, good leaders like Warnock and are not troubled by their color will likely move to Georgia, rather than South Carolina or Florida, and bring their tolerance, education and progressive ideas with them. They may also bring an additional entrepreneurial spirit, lifting Georgia’s economy and, at the same time, reinforcing its progressive evolution.

For all these reasons, I expect Georgia to be the first state in the Old, Deep South to make the transition to modern, progressive, get-stuff-done politics. (Of course that means Democratic rule.) I even wonder whether, in four more years, when Brian Kemp will be term-limited, Stacey Abrams can realize her dream. I hope I live to see that. If I do, I’ll support her campaign as usual.

Endnote: This post uses the term “positive feedback” in the engineering sense, not in the HR sense of a favorable evaluation. Positive feedback in an engineering sense need not have a “positive” result. It could render global warming self-sustaining and make large parts of the Earth uninhabitable. In Georgia’s case, however, it will produce a stable system of social justice and progressive, people-friendly politics, with plenty of good Black leaders.


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