This Georgia Girl's First Person View on the Georgia Lieutenant Governor Candidates

When asked in a recent AJC newspaper editorial what two challenges are the most important for Atlantans during the 2011 General Assembly, the candidates running for Georgia Lieutenant Governor had a lot to say. As a Georgian, I have a vested interest in what their positions are and wondered which one would serve my families needs best.

Federal Regulations

Casey Cagle, the republican contender for the political position, came out swinging a bat at the federal government's growth. He basically stressed that Georgia's biggest threat was federal government overgrowth.

"The single greatest threat is an ever-growing, federal government spilling over into the lives of every Georgian."

Yep, that just about nails it, in my book. My family adheres to the Founding Father's desire that government be by the people and for the people. I don't think that is what is happening in Washington now at all.

When I hear that our country's leaders are railroading legislation (behind closed doors)--suing individual states (like Arizona)--and overturning previously agreed upon bills and laws (DADT) to suit their current agenda (reelection) it is concerning. It makes me sit up and take notice, since they are doing these things against a majority. So I agree with Cagle on this point.

Federal Regulations Failure

I've seen first-hand federal government's failures in illegal immigration due to my criminal justice background. ICE, a federal agency tasked with picking up and deporting illegal immigrants, who commit crimes in each state, doesn't always work as it should.

The federal government doesn't always relieve states promptly of its prisoners, causing costly overcrowding problems in local jails throughout the state.

Local patrol and sheriff's deputies follow the law, arresting illegal immigrant criminals and transporting them to local jails. But then ICE doesn't follow through by coming in and getting these individuals after they are convicted and sending them on their merry way out of our country.

The federal government, thus, isn't always the "right choice" as a solution for state problems. And look at Health Care Reform, if you have any doubt. They still haven't gotten that worked out.

Educating the Public

Carol Porter, Cagle's democratic opponent, emphasized how the Founding Fathers knew that states couldn't handle all the important jobs alone: they needed federal intervention at times.

"There are some things we do better as a whole," Porter said.

She is absolutely right. Carol mentions educating the public as one of those things, and I wholeheartedly agree with her. An excellent public educational system is very important to our country and state. Until the masses are educated, how can we expect to excel in a competitive global environment?

I have only to look back to the days that preceded my own higher education to see the value. My income level and opportunities rose once I had my degrees under my belt. My broader outlook and increased reasoning skills enabled me to see the bigger picture and more easily read between the lines in politics and other important topics. Education is important. The federal government ensures it takes place everywhere in the country. But let's just not assume, erroneously, that the federal government ensures all those who attend school will be educated well.

Wasteful Spending

Here is where the rubber meets the road. If wasteful spending isn't the hotbed topic right now I just don't know what is, since the federal deficit has us borrowing from our own enemies to meet our growing debt.

When "made in China" and "American land owned by China" becomes the norm, we have reached a dangerous place, economically.

This is where I differ with Porter. The federal government cannot be the state's controller. A financial controller looks out for a business; it doesn't sell it down the river. Our federal government has failed far worse than any State of the Union, financially. So, "No," we cannot trust Big Brother to run everything about our states.

We can't trust the federal government to be fair, to be on our side, or to even run sound financially lucrative entities for us (remember the federal housing problems? social security depletion? their own trillions dollar budget?).

Casey Cagle has it right: limit federal government in state affairs.

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Source: "AJC Editorial Board questions Lieutenant Governor Candidates," AJC.com