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WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 14, 2022

by Bill Nigut

'No One Is Alone'

 
During a trip to New York last month, my wife, Janece, and I saw a highly acclaimed new production of Stephen Sondheim’s musical Into the Woods. It’s a well-known show, based on popular fairy tales. Near the end of the second act is a song called “No One Is Alone,” sung as consolation to those who lost loved ones in the rampage of a giant from the story Jack and the Beanstalk.

The lyric says:
"Sometimes people leave you halfway through the wood. Others may deceive you. You decide what’s good. You decide alone. But no one is alone."

Sondheim was dismayed when some people insisted he was wrong, saying that of course we’re all alone. Sondheim responded that they didn’t understand the song. He pointed out that a key phrase in the lyric is “No one acts alone. Careful, no one is alone,” by which he meant we are all responsible for one another and that any action we take has repercussions.

I thought about Sondheim’s lyric when I watched Britain’s new prime minister Liz Truss read the words of St. Paul in Romans 14, during one of the many services for Queen Elizabeth II.

Here are just a few lines:
“Why do you pass judgement on your brother and sister? Or why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgement seat of God...Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another.”

Those words by Paul and Sondheim tell me something urgent about how politics has twisted us into knots of animosity and resentment toward those with whom we disagree.

We may be irreconcilably divided over our political views, but if we lose sight of our shared humanity and the need to treat each other with kindness and generosity of spirit, we risk losing the bonds that bring us together in our neighborhoods, our houses of worship and the spaces where we work and play. 

Or, as Sondheim wrote in another verse in his song:
“While we’re seeing our side maybe we forgot. (We) are not alone. No one is alone.”
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HEADLINES

Walker, Warnock finally agree on U.S. Senate debate in Savannah

Sen. Raphael Warnock and his Republican challenger Herschel Walker have agreed to an Oct. 14 debate in Savannah. (Stephen Fowler / GPB News and Ben Gray / AP)

The controversial debate about debates in Georgia's nationally watched U.S. Senate race is over — for now — with both Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker agreeing to share the stage in Savannah, GPB's Stephen Fowler reports.

Months after Warnock announced he would participate in three debates in Atlanta, Macon and Savannah — and weeks after Walker countered with a fourth option — the pair have both pledged to participate in an Oct. 14 debate sponsored by Nexstar Media-owned WSAV-TV, which will be broadcast on several stations across Georgia and is expected to feature a live audience.

There is no indication yet that Walker will participate in the Thursday, Oct. 13 Macon debate or the Sunday, Oct. 16 Atlanta Press Club debate. Chase Oliver, the Libertarian candidate on the ballot for the Senate race, is participating in the Atlanta and Macon debates but said he was not invited to this Savannah debate.

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On GPB's Political Rewind, Matrix Communications' Rick Dent laid out his thoughts on the pros and cons for Republican Herschel Walker as he agrees to share the debate stage with Sen. Raphael Warnock in Savannah on Oct. 14.
MORE POLITICAL NEWS
On GPB's Political Rewind, The New York Times' Maya King commented on Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham's attempt to push his party toward a full embrace of abortion bans, which put his colleagues in a tough position.

 

Political Rewind:
Walker and Warnock will debate;
Sen. Graham stuns GOP with federal abortion ban


Today's show:

The debate stage is set for Herschel Walker and Sen. Raphael Warnock. The long-awaited matchup is the first time Walker will face an opponent since announcing his candidacy. Meanwhile, Sen. Lindsey Graham stuns Republicans by proposing a federal abortion ban.


On the panel:

Greg Bluestein, @bluestein, political reporter, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Maya King, @mayaaking, politics reporter, The New York Times

Rick Dent, vice president, Matrix Communications

 
Upcoming shows
 
  • Thursday on Political RewindStacey Abrams' campaign manager Lauren Groh-Wargo joins the show. Please reach out to us with your questions for her at @PoliticsGPB and on our voicemail line at 404-494-0421. *Next week, a representative from Gov. Brian Kemp's campaign will join the show. 
     
  • Friday on Political RewindJim Galloway joins the panel.

The Final Word

 

Rare copy of the U.S. Constitution on display Friday in Savannah



A copy of the U.S. Constitution. (The Georgia Historical Society / Twitter)

If you’re an alum of the University of Georgia like I am, you can thank Abraham Baldwin for founding the nation’s oldest public university as you cross Baldwin Street to watch the Dawgs play at home. You can also thank Baldwin for drafting some of your constitutional rights.
 
This Friday, the Georgia Historical Society in Savannah will display Baldwin’s draft of the U.S. Constitution. In the margins, you can read notes the Founding Father wrote as he finalized the 1787 document.
 
Baldwin was more than a founder; he was elected to the Georgia Assembly, where he served as a stalwart advocate for public education. He then served in the U.S. Senate, dying in office in 1802.
 
Today, our state legislators take office by swearing to uphold the constitutions of both Georgia and the United States. If you caught our special Political Rewind show about Georgia’s constitution, you’ll know there’s been twelve ruling documents in the state, from our colonial charter to our present-day 1983 constitution.
 
Why so many revisions? In short, you’ve got more rights than the U.S. Constitution could express, and those are up to individual states. That can be a mixed bag; in 2004, Georgia voters amended the constitution to ban same-sex marriage, but it’s a (federal) constitutional right. On the other hand, there’s a basic right to privacy under the Fourth Amendment, but Georgia has an extensive, century-long history of privacy rights.
 
If you’re a little lost, go check out Baldwin’s draft and see if his footnotes can clear things up.

— Chase McGee, producer, Political Rewind


View Baldwin's draft of the U.S. Constitution during a free open house event in commemoration of Constitution Day, Friday, Sept. 16, 2022, at the Georgia Historical Society in Savannah. Call 877-424-4789 for more information.


The GA Today Politics newsletter is written by Bill Nigut and Chase McGee and edited by Kristi York Wooten and Khari Sampson

Thank you for sharing your time with us. Feel free to send us feedback at GAtoday@gpb.org.

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