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The ADVANCE, September 7, 2022/Page 6A Stye Aiiuancg OPINIONS “I honor the man who is willing to sink Half his repute for the freedom to think, And when he has thought, be his cause strong or weak, Will risk t’other half for the freedom to speak.” -James Russell Lowell editorials Joe Biden Is the Real Semi-Fascist This week, Presi dent Joe Biden — in search of a new label to pin on his political opponents after the failure of his “ultra- MAGA” branding, which prompted peals of laughter rather than shudders By Ben Shapiro of horror — landed on a new slur with which to tar those who don’t support his agenda: they are, he said, semi-fascists. Speaking with a crowd of Democratic do nors in Maryland, Biden reportedly said, “What we’re seeing now is either the begin ning or the death knell of an extreme MAGA philosophy. It’s not just Trump, it’s the entire philosophy that underpins the — I’m going to say something — it’s semi fascism.” Now, Democratic politicians painting half of Americans as beneath contempt is old hat. Former President Barack Obama, of course, said that Americans who didn’t support him in 2008 were merely bitter bigots, clinging to “guns or religion or an tipathy toward people who aren’t like them.” Hillary Clinton was more pithy: she called them a “basket of deplorables.” So, “semi-fascist” shouldn’t come as much of a shock. But that smear is particularly galling coming from Biden the same week in which he announced, without any constitutional authority whatsoever, that he was erasing some $500 billion in student loan debts — the single largest executive action in Amer ican history. Biden justified that action on the basis of a nonexistent COVID-19 emergency. He has justified similar usurpa tions on similar grounds: He illegally tasked his Occupational Safety and Health Administration with forcing vaccines on some 80 million people on the basis of a “public health emergency”; he used his Centers for Disease Control and Preven tion to try to propagate an eviction morato rium on the same basis; he bragged in July that he will reshape the American economy on his own if Congress doesn’t act in order to forestall a supposed “climate change emergency.” If we’re talking about semi-fascism, this stuff qualifies. The history of fascism, after all, does not begin with a dictator simply marching into a nation’s capital and seizing total power. It more frequently begins with the destruction of the legislative branch at the hands of centralization of executive power. Adolf Hitler didn’t just declare himself dic tator; dictatorial power preceded him in the chancellor’s office by several years, dat ing back to Heinrich Bruning invoking emergency powers under Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution in 1930. Benito Mus solini came to power under constitutional means in 1922 and didn’t consolidate his rule until 1925. Fascism, in other words, is a gradual process. And that process starts with executive branch actors accreting au thority they were never given. Because our political discourse has de volved into middle-school histrionics — “Everyone I don’t like is Hitler!” — we fail to notice the gradual slide into tyranny, ig noring it on behalf of spectacular headlines and reactionary rhetoric. Standing up to that process isn’t semi-fascism; it’s the op posite. Ben Shapiro, 38, is a graduate of UCLA and Harvard Law School, host of "The Ben Shapiro Show," and Editor-in-Chief of DailyWire.com. He is a three-time New York Times bestselling author; his latest book is "The Authoritarian Moment: How The Left Weaponized America's Institutions Against Dissent." To find out more about Ben Shapiro and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www. creators.com. COPYRIGHT 2022 CREATORS.COM Stacey Abrams: Fiscally Fit for Georgia? Georgia Democratic gu bernatorial candidate Stacy Abrams was a quick study as a tax associate at the Suther land Asbill & Brennan law firm in Atlanta, where her practice focused on tax- exempt organizations. She obviously used her experi ence to establish and fund tax-exempt projects for her own benefit. Abrams, who represents the 89th district Atlanta, used her experience as a tax lawyer to create nonproduc tive, nonprofit organizations from which she paid herself a substantial salary and shaft ed her employees of these organizations by not paying unemployment, workman’s compensation and social security contributions re sulting in Georgia tax liens against her on unpaid unem ployment contributions. In 2013, Abrams orches trated the initiative called the New Georgia Project, a subsidiary of another of Abrams’s projects created in 1998 called Third Sector De velopment whose main ob jective was to register minor ity voters across the state. In 2014 she registered an advo cacy organization called Vot er Access Institute, Inc. According to cam paign contribution dis closure reports, Abrams’ tax-exempt organizations are receiving contributions from wealthy donors such as Democratic mega-donor and California based billion aire Tom Steyer and liberal billionaire George Soros. So ros himself gave her political action committee, Georgia Next, Inc., a check for half a million dollars in 2014 to help her voter registration efforts, according to Atlanta Magazine. From fundraising mem os obtained by Atlanta Mag azine, Abrams asked Democ racy Alliance, a network of progressive donors, includ ing liberal billionaires Soros and Steyer, to donate up to $5.9 million for her New Georgia Project and con tribute another $4.35 mil lion for her Voter Access In stitute. Although the objective of these projects was to reg ister minority voters, there is no evidence that contrib uted funds funneled through Abrams tax exempt organi zations had any significant impact on the voting rosters of either the Republican or Democratic parties. Votebuilder, an election database used by Democrats, shows that almost 10,000 fewer minorities statewide were registered to vote in 2014 following the creation of her New Georgia Project versus the previous mid term election in 2010 when hardly any money was spent on voter registration. The state department investigat ed allegations that the New Georgia Project submitted dozens of fraudulent voter registration applications in the months leading up to the 2018 vote. Former Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed has also ques tioned the need for the New Georgia Project. "I don’t believe nor did I believe that the New Georgia Project is the model [for voter registra tion]," Reed told the Atlanta Journal Constitution. Black Democratic state Senator David Lucas from Macon said the New Geor gia Project did not seek his input, nor that of other long time voter registration advo cates. According to Lucas, “We were kept in the dark, period. [We didn’t know] how much money was raised, who they paid to go out to do the work. We liter ally didn’t know anything.” Abrams has spoken out against “wage theft” from “firms who hire full-time employees and then clas sify them as independent contractors to deprive them Please see Abrams page 9A Erk Russell belongs in the College Football Hall of Fame Erk Russell should be in the College Football Hall of Fame. Period. End of story. But since I still have quite a bit of space to fill here, let me tell you why he should be and why he is not. For those of you recently arrived in our fair state, Erskine “Erk” Russell was the head coach of the Georgia Southern Eagles football team in Statesboro; the man who resuscitated the program after a 40-year hiatus. Georgia Southern had fielded a foot ball team until World War II where upon it was suspended and lay dor mant until 1981. That is when Russell arrived. Between 1981 and 1989, the Ea gles won three NCAA Division 1-AA national championships and finished second once. In addition, Georgia Southern became the first 15-0 team of the 20th century. Prior to restarting football at GSU, Erk Russell was the legendary defen sive coordinator at the University of Georgia for 17 years, including the 1980 national championship team. Russell helped popularize the now-fa miliar phrase, “Junkyard Dawgs.” “There isn’t anything meaner than a junkyard dog,” he once said. “They aren’t good for nothing except for be ing mean and ornery. That’s what we want our defense to be.” And they were. And so was Erk Russell. He was famous for head-butting his helmeted players on the sideline to fire them up and leaving himself with a bloody fore head. Many thought Russell would suc ceed Vince Dooley as head football when Dooley retired, but the job went to Ray Goff instead. We all know how that turned out. Erk Russell was a master motiva tor, always looking for ways to inspire his players. At Georgia Southern, he renamed a tiny stream that ran through the practice grounds “Beautiful Eagle Creek.” He would have players scoop the supposedly magical waters from the creek in a jar and pour the contents onto the opponent’s field at away games as a motivational tactic. In the early days of the program, the team was transported to and from games in two yellow school buses that the Bulloch County school system sold the Georgia Southern Athletic Depart ment for $ 1 each. Long after the school could afford charter buses, Russell in sisted the team stick with the yellow school buses as a way of staying con nected to their humble beginnings as a college football startup. Today, the players still ride yellow school buses to home games. Russell, who died in 2006 at the age of 80, was inducted into the Geor gia Sports Hall of Fame in 1987 and into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 1991 (He was a four-sport letterman at Auburn University) and was named Georgia Coach of the Decade by USA Today in 1989. By Dick Yarbrough So, why isn’t he in the College Football Hall of Fame? According to the rules of those who make the selec tions, he doesn’t qualify. Coaches must have coached 100 games and had at least a .600 winning percentage. Erk Russell coached 106 games and had a winning percentage of 78.3. But the rules also state that candi dates must have been a head coach for 10 years. Therein lies the rub. Russell coached only eight seasons at Georgia Southern. And for a mere 730 days, one of the greatest coaches, motivators and a miracle workers to ever grace the game of football is denied his rightful place in the College Football Hall of Fame. Incidentally, one of this year’s in ductees, Billy Jack Murphy who coached at Memphis from 1958 to 1971, had a winning percentage of 67% and never won a national champion ship. The roadblock seems to be Steve Hatchell, CEO of the National Foot ball Foundation. Erk Russell’s inclu sion would require a waiver. Georgia Southern University president Kyle Marrero and athletic director Jared Benko sent Hatchell a letter on Aug. 5 formally requesting a waiver on the 10- year requirement. To date, no response. Gov. Brian Kemp has contacted Hatchell, as well. “Georgia is proud that the College Football Hall of Fame calls the Peach State home, and we ask you in the spirit of Coach Russell’s motto — “Just one more time” — you honor him with this distinction,” Kemp wrote. Still no response from Hatchell. Let’s all be positive and think that Hatchell and the National Football Foundation will do the right thing and grant a most-deserved waiver for Erk Russell to join the College Football Hall of Fame. If not, that crowd will clearly be the loser because Coach Ers kine “Erk” Russell is and always will be the epitome of a winner. You can reach Dick Yarbrough at dick@dickyarbrough.com; at P.O. Box 725373, Atlanta, Georgia 31139 or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ dickyarb. s "A&uancE (The Advance Publishing Co., Inc) 205 E. First Street, Vidalia, GA 30474 Telephone: (912) 537-3131 FAX: (912) 537-4899 E-mail: theadvancenews@gmail.com The Advance, U. S. P. S. #659-000, successor to The Advance and The Lyons Progress, entered weekly at Vidalia, GA Post Office. Periodical Postage paid at Vidalia, GA 30474 under Act of Congress, March 4, 1886. 205 East First Street, Wm. F. Ledford, Sr. Publisher. Subscription Rates per year: $40.00 in county, $55.00 out of 304 zip code. (POSTMASTER: send address changes to The ADVANCE, 205 E. First St., Vidalia, GA 30474). Copyright © 2022, Advance Publishing Co., Inc. All rights reserved. The design, concept and contents of The Advance are copyrighted and may not be reproduced in part or whole without written permission from the publisher. R.E. "LID" LEDFORD, PUBLISHER 1924-1976 WILLIAM F. “BILL” LEDFORD SR., PUBLISHER 1976-2013 Publisher & Managing Editor: WILLIAM F. LEDFORD JR. Vice President: THE LATE ROSE M. LEDFORD Regional Editor: DEBORAH CLARK Pagination/Typography: LEANNE RICHARDSON Quality Control: MILLIE PERRY Staff Writer: MAKAYLEE RANDOLPH Graphic Design: MATTHEW WATERS Sports Editor/Graphic Design: MIKE BRANCH Director of Advertlslng/Sales: DANIEL FORD Office Manager: BONNIE BAILEY Financial Manager: CINDY LAWRENCE Contributing Writers: JOE PHILLIPS, LORAN SMITH, DICK YARBROUGH & AMBER NAGLE Upr NATIONAL NEWSPAPER ASSOCIATION Member of the Georgia Press Association and the National Newspaper Association Winning Newspaper Belter Newspaper Contesls