Former Lt. Gov. Duncan defects, Georgia shrugs
Former Republican Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan generated a collective yawn when he recently defected from the GOP and announced that he is now a Democrat. He is a talking head on CNN and endorsed Kamala Harris for president. So his about-face wasn’t exactly Earth-shattering.
“Waking up now as a Democrat each morning has injected that new sense of optimism into my veins and allowed me to get back into the ‘idea business,’” he wrote in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “The art of the possible is once again possible, my tool kit for solving people’s problems just got a whole lot better and I love it!”
Forgive me if I don’t buy into his apparent giddiness and if one of my first thoughts about him being in the “idea business” is a quote from comedian Lewis Black: “Republicans have nothing but bad ideas and Democrats have no ideas.” I don’t agree with Black’s farcical and overly cynical quote, but I am guessing many of my readers do. That aside, the lack of ingenuity of Duncan’s supposedly bold ideas might make Democrats want to return him to sender, if the Republicans would take him back.
Before I get into that, Duncan needs to be applauded for some of his work in the Legislature. He supported numerous well-founded conservative policy solutions, opposed efforts to curtail voting access and pushed back against President Donald Trump when he falsely claimed the 2020 election was stolen. Duncan should be commended for doing the right thing, and should garner plenty of sympathy for the shocking blowback that he received.
Now that he has jumped the GOP ship, he has some supposedly “bold” policy ideas. “Let’s start a ‘Jumpstart Fund’ with $1.7 billion in seed capital from the $17 billion rainy-day fund and laser focus on turning poverty into prosperity for as many Georgians as possible,” Duncan wrote.
That sounds nice, but throwing money at a problem isn’t exactly a creative solution. He also doesn’t really say how a program would even operate exactly other than adopting “a housing-first philosophy—combining speedy modular development, substantial financial investment and service-rich supportive housing.” That’s a bit of a meaningless buzzword salad, and to borrow a Trump quote: “I really don’t know what he said at the end of that sentence. I don’t think he knows what he said either.”
His other big idea? Telemedicine. “Let’s figure out a way to better leverage telehealth into Federal Qualified Health Centers and look for ways to expand their footprint here in Georgia,” Duncan said. I completely agree that telemedicine is a wonderful tool, and Georgians should seek ways to take advantage of it when it makes sense. However, this is far from being a “bold, modern [solution]” that Duncan is selling, nor does he provide a pathway to accomplishing this feat.
That’s not all. Duncan decided to discuss his philosophy on governance, and he asserts the Legislature should pass laws that “represent a majority of Georgians.” At first blush, who can disagree with that sentiment? At a deeper level, however, there are so many problems with it. We don’t live in a direct democracy that is subject to the whims of the general public. We live in a democratic republic led by elected officials, and many issues—particularly altering inalienable rights—are largely and thankfully off limits to legislators.
Duncan’s proposed standard is concerning. As my friend and former state representative Scot Turner wrote, “The trouble is that when you apply this standard to issues of fundamental rights, you are no longer talking about representation. You are talking about permission slips that can be revoked when the crowd changes its mind. Rights are not meant to ebb and flow with public opinion […] If they can be voted away they are not rights at all.”
This misguided standard could be used to strip away rights beloved by Republicans and even Democrats, but thankfully we have a Constitution that protects Americans from this kind of governing. I think Duncan’s heart is probably in the right place and wants to help people, but his proposals raise some eyebrows.
The question is whether his new home—the Democratic Party—will keep him around or eventually return him to the GOP. Something tells me Republicans won’t welcome him with open arms. Those who wrongly believe the election was stolen will never forgive him, and he has even managed to rile more principled Republicans, like Turner.
People shouldn’t begrudge Duncan simply for siding with whatever party he feels best represents his values. He should follow his heart, but Republican or Democrat, I suspect plenty of Georgians want bolder ideas. Nevertheless, according to Lewis Black, he only had two choices: bad ideas or no ideas.