Attacks on Georgia’s election laws have absolutely nothing to do with Georgia’s election laws

Georgia’s new election integrity laws have spurred a plethora of unhinged responses from the left. Major League Baseball pulled their All Star Game. Various “woke” companies have threatened to leave the state. Even the President of the United States voiced support for these anti-Georgia actions.

As most on the right have come to Georgia’s defense, chastising the left and their use of cancel culture against an entire state, there seems to be a misconception. Based on commentaries I’ve read and reactions on social media, it appears that most believe the attacks on Georgia have something to do with Georgia. Many are saying the efforts of the radical left are attempts to pressure the state government into reversing course or abolishing the new laws. This is incorrect.

I’m actually grateful for my conservative peers who think this even though it’s false. It tells me they look at things through a genuine lens of straightforward motivations. In other words, they see the actions by the left and attribute them to some sort of self-perceived righteousness. We may not agree with them, but it seems that most conservatives take their actions at face value. I appreciate this because it shows our side is less devious; often those who fail to see lies are the ones who don’t make a habit of lying themselves.

I, on the other hand, have an eye for deception. I’m hopeful that it’s because I have God-given discernment when it comes to situations like this, and that it’s not indicative of a dishonest heart. Either way, the left’s motivations for attacking Georgia were crystal clear to me the moment they started. To be more accurate, I knew the attacks would come, why they’d come, and generally how they’d manifest before Governor Brian Kemp signed the legislation into law.

This has nothing to do with Georgia, at least not directly. The left has no illusions that they’ll get the law reversed or repealed. This is 99% about every other state in the future that would considering passing such a law. They are trying to make Georgia an example.

“Pass legislation that hinders us from cheating and we’ll unleash hell on your entire state.” That’s the message.

The other 1% in their motivation is to use this as a virtue-signal litmus test. Which companies or organizations hopped on board? Can they be counted on to hop on board in the future? What negative impact did their acceptance of the leftist ploy make them suffer from the right? These questions and a handful of others account for the cherry on top, the additional 1% of benefit the radical left gets out of their Georgia attacks.

We’ve seen this playbook before on multiple occasions. One of the most effective was the attack on Indiana and then-Governor Mike Pence over the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. It was a strong bill that was attacked from the start. In that case, they were able to pressure a feckless Governor Pence into reversing course within a week. But that was a bonus. The real target was the other 49 states. They set out to destroy Indiana so no other states would dare to defend citizens’ and business owners’ religious liberties. And it worked. Similar laws that were in the works in other states were quietly left to die on the vine.

Tearing down religious liberties is important to the radical left and they will continue to attack them, but maintaining their stranglehold on voter fraud is their biggest goal right now. Doing so will give them permanent rule, driving conservatives out of office and maintaining obedient RINOs as their token GOP representatives to make it seem a little less unfair. This is why we’re seeing them pull out the big guns on Georgia. Again, they have no hopes of reversing it as they did with Indiana. The Indiana bill had real controversy behind it. All the controversy surrounding the Georgia bill has been manufactured through the left’s racist narrative that Black people are less capable of getting identification.

It is imperative that conservatives and even moderates fight the left’s attacks on Georgia with everything we’ve got. We are not defending Georgia’s law. We are preventing the quashing of future legislation in other states. Some similar pieces of legislation are already on the table, and as expected, they are already losing steam as weak Republicans watch what’s happening in Georgia and try to wiggle their way out of the same thing happening to them.

Republicans in states outside of Georgia are being intimidated into not considering similar election integrity measures. What they should be doing is ramping up their efforts and passing legislation that is even better than Georgia’s.