Under the Gold Dome: The Circus Rolls Back Into Town

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, the Georgia Legislature goes back in session Monday, which means it is once again time to secure loose items, keep your hands inside the ride at all times, and explain to your children why the adults on television are yelling.

Every January, the Gold Dome throws open its doors and the circus rolls into town. There are clowns. There are strongmen. There are acrobatic feats of logic that leave you wondering if gravity has been repealed by committee vote, and God yes, there are elephants. Tons of elephants.

All that’s missing is cotton candy, though I’m sure someone has filed a resolution declaring funnel cake the official dessert of Georgia by now. Afterall, they did decide cornbread should be the official state bread last year — so we can all rest easy on that highly important issue that effects all of our lives so deeply.

If you’ve followed the legislature for any length of time, you know this show well. This is the body that has devoted precious hours to debating the sanctity of the Confederate battle flag, issuing heartfelt resolutions congratulating college football teams they do not attend, and proposing laws and resolutions for things like naming official state foods, symbols, slogans, and other matters of grave importance to no one outside the building.

Over the years, they have devoted serious time to issues like what Georgia’s official state vegetables should be, what words should appear on specialty license plates, and which groups deserve a ceremonial pat on the back from the General Assembly, all while solemnly treating these debates as if civilization itself were hanging in the balance.

They parade out tired “culture war” issues that appease their voters and special interest groups, and pay little to no regard to things that real people discuss at the kitchen table while eating state sanctioned peaches and cornbread.

Meanwhile, back in the real world, Georgia has problems. Big ones. Boring ones. Expensive ones.

Our roads are crumbling. Housing costs keep climbing. Rural hospitals are disappearing like pay phones. Mental health care is so hard to find that people treat an available therapist like a rare Pokémon. And then there’s health care, which in Georgia manages to be both incredibly costly and remarkably difficult to access at the same time, a trick that should probably earn us a ribbon.

Families are paying more every year for insurance that covers less every year. Premiums go up. Deductibles go up. Out-of-pocket costs go up. Actual care remains a prize you may or may not receive after spinning the wheel.

This year, the legislature’s answer to this is to announce that we need better education and more doctors, which is true in the same way it is true that people should drink more water. It is the same wait-and-see approach they take to every issue every year. Yes, of course health care will improve if you attract more doctors and make education for med students cheaper. That’s simpley common sense. It sounds good.  People can beat their chest and claim that Georgia’s lawmakers are “doing something” about health care.

But it mostly just kicks the can down the road and hopes the can figures things out on its own. Better education and more doctors do not bring the price of medical care or insurance down today. They do not help the maternal mortality rate today. They mostly help lawmakers sound busy at press conferences. But sure, keep making small symbolic gestures and maybe health care, like traffic on I‑285, will magically fix itself if we all just believe hard enough.

I hear the legislature is going to take up that all important issue of legalizing gambling. You know, one of the many issues they dust off every year until they get distracted by a wiry Baptist preacher offering barbecue and damnation. Honestly, they should pull the trigger on it this year. Folks might need to win at a casino to afford their medical bills in this state.

Georgia also prides itself on being business-friendly, which it absolutely is. Corporations are welcomed with open arms, tax incentives, and ceremonial scissors for ribbon cuttings. Workers and families, on the other hand, are often greeted with a firm handshake and a reminder that the free market will sort it out eventually, just like that traffic on I-285.

This session, lawmakers are again talking about eliminating the state income tax. That idea gets a lot of attention, and for once, it might actually make some sense. A state that routinely ranks near the bottom in health care access, maternal mortality, and basic services probably shouldn’t be charging residents for the privilege of enduring those rankings.

If Georgia insists on providing bargain-basement services, at least we could stop billing people full price.

So yes, the circus is back. There will be speeches. There will be press conferences. There will be bills filed that never had a chance, others that probably shouldn’t exist, and at least a few that make you wonder if anyone involved was dared to file them.

The question, as always, is whether anyone under the big gold tent plans to spend serious time helping the people who actually live here and work at the businesses lawmakers care so much about.

Enjoy the show, much like the actual circus, I assure you nobody is taking it seriously.