Less is better: What it means to be a conservative

For nearly 10 years under the Gold Dome, this was my default starting point to solving the complex riddles our state faced. This conservative north star served me well and always felt like a tight-fitting dovetail to a significant majority of Georgians, on both sides of the aisle. Everyone wants lower taxes and less regulation, right?

Before showing up at the Capitol in 2013 as a politically clueless state representative, I naively thought conservative-minded people were Republicans and liberal-minded people were Democrats. I quickly realized being a conservative was more about a person’s mindset and less about their party affiliation.

You have to look no further than the 40-day legislative session to see a roster full of Democrats and Republicans working together to cut wasteful spending and remove burdensome regulations. This bipartisan teamwork is easy to explain: A majority of Georgians are fiscally conservative, regardless of their party affiliation.

So why is it so hard to work together on the other issues? The easy answer is caustic, unproductive national politics have invaded our state’s borders over the last 10 years and made it politically unpopular to tell the truth. It is no longer politically expedient to be an honest umpire. The national apparatus, in both parties, have trained us to vote for grenade launchers instead of problem solvers.

Let me start with the home team: The 2020 election was not rigged. Four-plus years removed from the 2020 election there is still less than a shred of evidence, and Republicans know it. Donald Trump lost in 2020 for the same reason his polling numbers are dropping so quickly now in his second term: He is a better candidate than a president.

Chaos and controversy may win elections, but they don’t govern well.

Moving onto the visiting team, it is not OK to let biological men play in girls sports under any circumstance, and Democrats know it. There is less than one ounce of common sense that supports this line of thinking. Girls have worked too hard to be athletically successful throughout their life to be marginalized by genetics.

The list of issues that synthetically divide our great state will continue to grow until we stop letting corrosive national politics destroy our thirst for solutions. If a politician simply wants to make a point, they will only talk about the problem. If they are interested in making a difference, they will talk about the solution, too.

Take, for example, the yearslong tangled issue of immigration. It was not acceptable for Joe Biden to leave the border wide open for four years, and it is equally not OK for President Donald Trump to hyperpoliticize his “made for TV” deportations of law-abiding noncitizens.

Illegal immigration is a two-prong issue that involves both border security and a viable strategy to deal with the 12 million-plus illegal immigrants living in the U.S. that both Democrats and Republicans have economically leaned into for decades. Anyone telling you differently is more interested in getting your vote than solving the problem.

Much like being a fiscal conservative, being a problem solver is more about a mindset than a political party. Here in Georgia, we are at our best when we solve our own problems and avoid the chaotic fog of national politics.

Less is better.

Credit: Geoff Duncan

Credit: Geoff Duncan

An AJC contributor, Geoff Duncan served as Georgia’s lieutenant governor from 2019 to 2023. He is a former professional baseball player and the author of “GOP 2.0: How the 2020 Election Can Lead to a Better Way Forward for America’s Conservative Party.” He also is a contributor to CNN.

Credit: TNS

Credit: TNS