Barrow journal. (Winder, Ga.) 2008-2016, January 27, 2016, Image 4

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Barrow journal., January 27, 2016, Image 4

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Newspaper Page TextPAGE 4A BARROW JOURNAL WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 27, 2016 Opinions “Private opinion is weak, but public opinion is almost omnipotent. ” ~ Henry Ward Beecher - Voting to begin in fascinating presidential race chris bridges By the time you read this, we will be less than a week away from the Iowa caucus, historically the first of many presidential campaign battlegrounds. With both major parties having con tested events this year, the results from Iowa will be interesting to watch for several reasons. First, the way a caucus is decided often makes for long nights for those count ing the votes as well as for those covering the event. In the 2012 GOP Iowa event, live coverage from Iowa went into the middle of the night with no win ner declared. It actually took several weeks after the event, and after most folks had forgotten about it, for the actual winner (Rick Santorum) to be correctly announced. Of course, the networks had already declared a previ ous winner and gotten it wrong. Second, many political observers are waiting to see if Donald Trump can pull off a win, even by a small margin, in Iowa. Trump has been leading in several early states including New Hampshire and South Carolina (he also continues to lead in Georgia polls) but the so-called political experts seem to think he might have trouble winning in Iowa simply because of how a caucus is run. It’s not as simple as voting in a primary where the process may take a few minutes. A caucus can last for several hours and it takes dedicated supporters of candi dates to hang in there for the duration. In looking at some new poll numbers released Monday of this week, Trump holds anywhere from a five to an 11 point lead in the state known for its corn. I can’t see Trump winning by double digits, but it is becoming increas ingly possible he just may win Iowa. If that happens, certain people within the power establishment of the national GOP will become even more nervous because a snowball effect could then take place and Trump may very well run away with the nomination. Even a close loss by Trump in Iowa will not detail his campaign. The huge leads he currently holds in several early voting states show he can make up Iowa quickly and even those who maintain he doesn’t have the ground support neces sary to win a caucus event in Iowa, con cede his lead in early states which hold primaries may be too much to overcome at this point. Trump has defied all political wisdom (and logic) with his campaign. When he first announced many (myself included) didn’t think he would have much of an impact on the race. Even after the first polls came out showing him as the national leader, many felt that could be contributed sim ply to his “celebrity” status. However, Trump’s speak from the hip style of campaigning where he doesn’t tip toe around like he’s trying to maneuver through a field of land mines, has definitely made him popular with many Americans. At first, it appeared all the typical attack pieces on him from the media (ironi cally not just from the liberal leaning news media but from the media as well) would bring him down, just like it had with all previous candidates. However, with each attack piece aired, Trump not only sur vived, but gained popularity. He won a battle with a popular right- wing talk show on the Fox News Network, something many national GOP candi dates would never have attempted. He survived remarks about John McCain sta tus as a war hero. He survived remarks about illegal immigrants and what should be done with them. He won a one-on-on battle with female presidential candidate Carly Fiorina, who has all but disappeared from the national spotlight. It has been an amazing spectacle to watch. Now, if Trump actually wins Iowa there may be no stopping him. And the man I associated most with owning the New Jersey Generals of the old USFL and for hosting the third and fourth Wrestlemanias back in the 1980s, just might be on his way to the White House. Who would have thought it? Only in America. • • • On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton is in the fight of her life against upstart candidate Bernie Sanders. A loss in Iowa for Clinton would not end her campaign but it certainly would be embarrass ing. Sanders is also currently leading in New Hampshire and back-to-back wins would cast even more doubt on whether Clinton could win the nomination. Oddly, former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley is a better choice than either Clinton or Sanders but has gained absolutely no traction in the race at all. He continues on, however, but will likely make an exit following the New Hampshire primary. • • • When Georgia voters take part in our state’s primary, they will notice a name likely unknown to most. On the Democratic primary, Michael Steinberg joins Clinton, Sanders and O’Malley on the ballot. Steinberg, from Florida, touts himself as the “Lesser Known Candidate.” Indeed. Getting on the presidential primary bal lot varies from state to state. In Georgia, a Democratic presidential candidate gets on the ballot by making a request to the executive committee of the Democratic Party of Georgia, which is what Steinberg did. The decision on which candidates to be included was made last fall and Steinberg made the cut. Candidates such as Steinberg, who have no chance at winning the nomination or of being elected president, always garner a few votes. It will be interesting to see if he manages to get one percent of the Democratic vote in Georgia. Just a reminder with Georgia’s presiden tial primary approaching, I am conducting an informal poll on who Barrow County voters prefer. Send me an email at the address at the end of this column and let me know who you plan to vote for in the upcoming primary. I will compile the results and print them the week before the March 1 Georgia primary. Your name will not be printed. Thanks for your participation. Chris Bridges is editor of the Barrow Journal. You can reach him at cbridges@barrowjournal. com. Who wins in this fight over ‘freedom? tom crawford This is a fight over “freedom” that legislators don’t really need. It’s a fight they could have avoided. But it seems to be a fight that they are destined to have. We’re talking about the freedom to discriminate against gays if you can convince the authorities that you are doing so out of a sincerely held reli gious belief. In last year’s session, there was the Religious Freedom Act authored by Sen. Josh McKoon (R-Columbus). The bill says you can’t be punished if you run a bakery and, on religious grounds, refuse to bake a wedding cake for a same-sex couple. McKoon says this is a protection of religious expression from government intrusion. The bill passed the Senate but bogged down in a House committee when lawmakers attempted to add language that would prohibit anti-gay discrimination. Religious conservatives strongly sup port McKoon’s bill, but it has gener ated powerful opposition not just from civil libertarians but also from large business organizations like the Georgia Chamber and dozens of major corpo rations across the state. Business leaders fear that passage of the law would blow up in Georgia’s face and bring on the same kind of negative media coverage that a similar law did in Indiana last year. If Georgians really want a “religious freedom” law on the books, House Speaker David Ralston said they should support his own version, the Pastor Protection Act. “Ministers will not be required to conduct wedding ceremonies if it conflicts with their religious belief,” Ralston said of his bill. Sen. Greg Kirk (R-Americus) has added the third side to the triangle with his First Amendment Defense Act (FADA), which he introduced late last week. Under his bill, Kirk said probate court judges could not refuse to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples merely for religious reasons. But if an organization like an adoption agency refused on religious grounds to provide services for a same-sex couple, then local governments could not punish or fine that business. “My legislation does not challenge the Supreme Court ruling on marriage,” Kirk said. “It does offer protection to pri vate individuals and organi zations (who only recognize marriages involving men and women).” Kirk’s bill, as with McKoon’s, has the support of conser vatives and fundamentalists. Mike Griffin, the head of the Georgia Baptist Convention, attended Kirk’s news con ference and looked on approvingly as he talked about his bill. Gay rights organizations like Lambda Legal, on the other hand, denounced the proposal. “Georgia’s antigay lawmakers are once again trying to allow religious discrimination in many areas of life for Georgia’s families, workers and oth ers,” said attorney Beth Littrell. “We have seen this over and over — bills that say they are about protect ing one thing when the real goal is to target and discriminate against gay and transgender people and people of minority faiths, with vast implications for everyone,” Littrell said. Complicating the debate is the fact that legislators are convening at the same time that candidates are rev ving up their campaigns for the May 24 party primaries. The key days are March 7-11, which is when candidates formally qualify for the primaries. Some lawmakers are afraid they will draw primary opposition if they don’t vote for these bills, no matter how they might feel personally about gays. If debate on the bills is delayed until after March 11, when candidate qualifying ends, then legislators who don’t have primary opposition might feel they have more flexibility to vote their true convictions. Gov. Nathan Deal doesn’t have to worry about primary opposition - he says he’ll never run for political office again. Deal also loves nothing better than to announce the arrival of new businesses in Georgia. Will he join forces with the business groups and speak out against any of the bills? “The legislative process is about compromise,” Ralston said. “I’m hope ful that we will find a path to resolve the concerns on both sides of that issue.” Kirk said he recognizes that same- sex marriages are “the law of the land” but hoped that his bill would encour age the two sides to “live and let live.” “I think Georgia can take the lead in this,” said Kirk. When you consider the anger stirred up by this issue, that may be a little too much to hope for. Tom Crawford is editor of The Georgia Report, an internet news ser vice at gareport.com that reports on state government and politics. He can be reached at tcrawford@gareport. com. Learning empathy It’s hard to put yourself in someone else’s shoes. I’ve been hearing the word “empathy” more fre quently lately. Schools are looking for ways to teach empathy to their students. Former politicians are empathizing with current candidates. Businesses are looking at the benefits of empathy on their leadership. Doctors are learning to empathize with their patients. Each is looking for ways to better relate with their fellow humans. But our perspective is limited. We are individuals. We each have dif ferent lives, memories, priori ties, hopes and emotions. We see things different and feel things differently. But most of us still have this ability to see outside of ourselves, even if that sight is limited. Empathy is an interesting emotion, and I’m not sure I fully understand it. I asked sev eral friends for their opinions on what empathy is. Some thought it was a natural, inher ent emotion. One said it could only be taught in extreme situ ations. Some thought it could be taught (or at least grown) through experiences and examples. Whether it is inherent, taught or a mixture of both, it is something that we feel. It is an understanding of and respect for another person’s humanity and worth. And although by definition it is the sharing of emotions, it is unique to each person and to each experience. It is hard to empathize with a person that has experienced a completely dissimilar life. It is difficult to relate to a superstar. And it is difficult to see the humanity in our political elites. It is hard for me to relate to our country’s biggest celebrity, the President (no matter who holds the office). For the most part, all former presidents have had dissimilar lives from me. It is easier to speak badly about them, to criticize their actions and decisions, without considering the person behind them. The same could be said for the current candidates vying for the presidency. Often in my mind, they are only the characters in our country’s political televi sion drama. It is easy to call them dumb or crazy, without considering that they aren’t just candidates... they’re people. But because there is a distance between their lifestyle and those of average citizens, it is hard to relate. And considering those from another culture is even more difficult. For many reasons, I cannot imagine how a mother felt to learn her child was killed in the shooting at Bacha Khan University last week. And it is difficult to relate to taking a vow of silence or com mitting to life of poverty. Differences in culture add complexity to an already complex emotion. But even within our own communities, it is difficult to consider things from another’s point of view. When you get behind a person at the grocery store who’s moving too slowly, it’s easy to get annoyed and not consider that they could have a pain in their body that makes them walk slower. And when you’re in the car behind a person driving recklessly, it’s easy to roll your eyes and think, “they’re going to get themselves killed.” It’s more difficult to think that they could have a family emergency or some crisis they need to deal with. It is difficult to empathize with someone when they do not act the way you think you would. And it is impossible to fully understand the realm of feelings behind another person’s actions. It is difficult to empathize. But I think it is important. The ability to relate to and respect another person is what creates a community, and an unselfish commu nity. And if empathy is an emotion that can be taught or grown, I think we should. It is crucial to creating a culture that thinks of the greater good, outside of the individual desires. Putting yourself in someone else’s shoes is difficult. But it’s important that we, at least, try. Alex Pace is a reporter for the Barrow Journal. She can be reached at apace@barrowjournal.com. Barrow Journal Winder, Barrow County, Ga. www.BarrowJournal.com Mike Buffington... Co-Publisher POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: Scott Buffington.. Co-Publisher The Barrow Journal 77 East May Street Winder, Georgia 30680 Chris Bridges Editor Published 52 times per year by Jessica Brown.... Photographer Mainstreet Newspapers, Inc. Susan Treadwell Reporter Periodicals postage paid at Winder, Georgia 30680 (USPS 025-132) Alex Pace Reporter Email: news@barrowjournal.com Sharon Hogan.... Reporter Phone: 770-867-NEWS (6397) Fax: 678-425-1435 Member SUBSCRIPTIONS: Georgia Press Association National Newspaper Association $25.00/yr.