Congratulations to Marsha Blackburn
Congratulations to Governor-elect Marsha Blackburn on her victory last week, as well as to Senator Bill Hagerty and Congressman Tim Burchett. Blackburn made history yet again; after having been the first woman ever to be elected by Tennesseans to serve in the US Senate, she is now the first woman to be elected as Tennessee’s chief executive. Hagerty won his second term as Tennessee’s senator. Burchett was first elected in 2018 to succeed longtime Congressman John J. “Jimmy” Duncan, who had served 30 years as the Second District’s representative in the US House.
Blackburn is well-positioned to serve as governor, having served as a member of the Tennessee State Senate where she led the fight against a state income tax. Blackburn was elected to Congress and then to the US Senate. Marsha Blackburn also became the first person ever to have been popularly elected to Congress, the US Senate and governor.
There has been some speculation in the news media, both in Tennessee and nationally, whether Governor Bill Lee or incoming governor Blackburn can appoint her successor in the Senate. Some news outlets have suggested there is no precedent, which is not true. In fact, Ray Hill, the resident political historian for The Focus, wrote an entire column on a similar case where both the sitting governor and incoming governor, who was a member of the US Senate, both appointed a successor. The column details the Senate determining which was entitled to hold the seat. You can find that column in The Focus archives online: www.knoxfocus.com/archives/this-weeks-focus/when-the-mountain-state-had-three-senators/
Republican Party Needs Some Serious Reflection On What Went Wrong
There is no avoiding the overwhelming defeat experienced by Republicans across the nation. Congressman Tim Burchett, I think, summarized the problem correctly. Republicans did not focus on the issues that mattered the most to the voters. The end result was a thorough drubbing on the day of the election.
Since it first hit newsstands, The Knoxville Focus has consistently been on the side of working people and families. When former school superintendent Jim McIntyre proposed to outsource the janitors at the Knox County school system, The Focus was the only news outlet in our community to oppose the idea and side with the least of these. It was a shameful idea to try and outsource the least compensated people in the system then, and we are proud to have taken the stand we did. Likewise, Republican would-be candidates ought to learn the obvious lesson of the midterm elections. GOP aspirants should be laser-focused on offering solutions to the real problems faced by working people and families. When wages don’t keep up with inflation, it hurts people who work for a living. Republicans in Washington, from the top down, took their eyes off the ball. The message of economic populism does not appeal to the elitists of either party, nor to the Marxists nudging aside reasonable Democrats. Republicans need to stand up and speak out on these issues which we face in our community. Local legislative officials have much more to do than trying to effectuate a national agenda locally; they need to address rising taxes, crumbling infrastructure, and the rapid pace of development that outruns our streets, schools, and neighborhoods. We need Republican officials to point out the lie of the Leftists in their own definition of “affordable” housing. Continuing to subsidize more and more is being paid for by taxpayers, and the City Council continuing to spend more and more money literally raises rents and mortgages for working people. Those increases hurt no group more than working families.
County officials need to give fewer lectures on national issues and fewer Bible lessons and pay more attention to what’s affecting Knox County. How can county officials resolve local matters, like our pressing traffic problems while, at the same time, approving zonings and development to further clog the roadways? Compounding the problem is never a remedy, and ignoring it won’t make it go away.
The voters of Washington state, which has not elected a Republican governor since 1980, nor a GOP US senator since 1994, passed a referendum banning biological males from participating in girls’ sports. The referendum was approved with 56% of the vote in a state that is deep blue.
Reason and logic can appeal to a broad section of voters, and approaching a subject with at least a measure of common sense helps. Approaching party primaries with an eye to destroying one’s opponent benefits only the Democrat-Socialists. That is not a theory but an established fact.
Voters will never reward those public officials who hold an office and do not perform the duties of that office, nor should they. We need to reemphasize what we stand for, and at the very root of that we must always be implementing those policies and doing the things that help raise up working people and their families. We need to help young people be able to lead productive lives and have the ability to afford a good home or apartment.
The American Dream should be shared by all of us – the opportunity to get an education, earn a good wage, live in a comfortable home, be happy and live a good life. When that becomes impossible, our country is gone.
