Opinion: Are parties offering Georgians the best and brightest political candidates?
Political parties were formed from struggle — the struggle of differing views voiced while ratifying the Constitution. Some favored a strong central government, centering on the commercial sector and others favored states’ rights and a more-agrarian society.
Parties have historically served as the structure for common ideologies and a way to organize around shared beliefs. As our primarily two-party system has evolved over the years, the Democratic and Republican parties have generally maintained that structure.
However, in recent years, what has traditionally been partisan struggles between the two parties have devolved into partisan battles within each party.
Both the Democratic and Republican parties have become so fractured and factioned that the hyperpartisan rhetoric is deafening and often paralyzing. Conservatives can’t agree on what conservatism is and liberals can’t agree on what’s too liberal or not liberal enough, resulting in a never-ending game of zero-sum politics.
Our country’s earliest partisan battles led our nation’s first president, George Washington, during his farewell address in 1796, to issue a strong warning of the “baneful effects of the spirit of the party.” Georgia First believes those effects are more evident now than ever before, given the quality of candidates being proposed by both parties.
Political parties have a responsibility to put forward their best and brightest that the party has to offer, but at this point, the parties often can’t even agree on what their best and brightest should be. Parties should also actively seek out candidates who, if elected, are fully committed to working on behalf of everyone in their district, not just those who voted for them.
Candidates campaign for votes; the elected have a responsibility to lead and act for the greater good.
The hyperpartisanship of both parties, nurtured over the last eight years, has created an atmosphere that rewards candidates who garner the most salacious or controversial media attention, but cannot speak to real-world solutions and are unable to articulate their policy positions.
Party leadership on both sides of the aisle can and should do better because the voters deserve our best.
Voters deserve party candidates who live life authentically and with integrity; who take the time to listen and learn from not just their party but from those in the opposite party; who reject an all or none policy approach; and who are committed to working on more than just their opposition strategy.
Georgia First believes that the Republican and Democratic parties can no longer expect voters to blindly support a candidate based on party alone when the quality of a candidate or the performance of an incumbent has not earned that vote. We believe voters are smarter than that and we believe there are more people who share our views than either party is willing to admit.
We also believe many Georgians are tired of all the hyperpartisan rhetoric that only serves to delay progress, stymy innovation and fails to deliver real-world solutions for hard-working Georgians.
The quality of candidates our political parties promote matters – it matters to the people of our state, it matters to Georgia business owners and it matters to our children.
Natalie Crawford is a native Georgian, lifelong Republican and former two-term Habersham County commissioner. Crawford founded Georgia First in 2022, to advance economic opportunity and health outcomes for all Georgians while adhering to “old-school” Republican principles. Georgia First is a center-right 501(c)4, dedicated to building strong faith-based and community coalitions, limiting government overreach, promoting fiscal responsibility and advancing individual liberty.
