Georgians are sick of mere handwringing by politicians clinging to power
Despite obvious, available solutions and the power to enact them, politicians want credit for merely talking about problems — even problems they created.
Every parent is supposed to learn the lesson I was fortunate enough to get from mine: Once you have children, you are not the main character anymore.
You owe someone else your best efforts at solving problems, even if you may at times get no gratitude, no credit — heck, your involvement may not even be known.
Having spent most of one decade as a professional handyman, then two solid decades as a lawyer, and having served in positions of responsibility from my neighborhood’s homeowner association board all the way to the board of my legal industry’s national trade association, I’ve seen what bold problem-solving those tasked to find solutions can exhibit when they act without personal agendas.
Political ambitions jeopardize the shared human urge to fix what is wrong. In 2024, then-presidential candidate Donald Trump successfully killed a bipartisan border security bill sponsored by Republicans because he made the decision that it’s better to run on a broken border than to fix it with the tools we had in hand.
He also promised to, and ultimately did, eliminate the Affordable Care Act’s enhanced subsidies, costing roughly 400,000 Georgians their health insurance, yet only one former elected Republican official in Georgia spoke out against his 2024 campaign, and that one — former Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan — was kicked out of their party.
Thoughts and prayers won’t pay for healthcare
“Thoughts and prayers” has become a disheartening meme, a platitude used in place of meaningful action. It’s heard most often in the context of gun deaths — the leading cause of child mortality nationwide and in Georgia.
Our state happens to be one in which even local efforts to curb the serial tragedy have been answered by Republican legislators with a bill to deny cities the right to take action. And as innocent children continue to die from this crisis, we hear those same legislators offer only thoughts and prayers rather than using their positions of power to compel real solutions.
The phrase applies elsewhere, too — our state has one of the most extreme abortion bans in the country, a choice by Republican legislators which led to predictable and preventable deaths of multiple Georgia women. That choice belongs to every Republican incumbent that didn’t bring a bill restoring those basic human rights. “Thoughts and prayers” is a slap in the face to the parents mourning their daughters.
And thoughts and prayers certainly won’t console the hundreds of thousands of Georgians who can’t afford healthcare — parents that can’t afford their child’s medical bills. In the midst of a healthcare and affordability crisis arising with the Republican Party in control of all levers of government in Georgia and Washington, D.C., Georgia’s Legislature has kept our state one of only 10 states not to opt-in to expanded Medicaid.
Failure to opt-in to Medicaid expansion means our income taxes flow to the pool of Medicaid funds nationwide but don’t flow back into our state to aid Georgians. This has left a profound coverage gap for those not qualified for traditional Medicaid — let alone the barriers of our state’s wasteful Pathways to Coverage plan — who also don’t meet the income requirements for the Affordable Care Act’s subsidies.
Politicians should fight for causes, not their careers
Now, with just a few days to go until an election, embattled state Republican politicians are holding news conferences loudly broadcasting their supposed condemnation and shock at reductions in Medicaid coverage — including to those with special needs — by the insurance company that they themselves contracted for our state.
Yet, despite knowing about these cuts since mid-2025, these politicians waited more than a year to speak out and proposed no bills to address the issue during the 2026 regular session or special session.
Good leaders, like good parents, show up and do the work when they know it’s needed, not only when it’s going to be celebrated. A politician appearing to mourn a loss — especially a loss their own decisions actively caused — is a tired, hypocritical cliche Georgia voters despise.
Georgia deserves more than thoughts and prayers, and we deserve more than election-season handwringing. We deserve representatives dedicated to causes, not careers — representatives who do the right thing every day rather than grandstanding when there’s an election around the corner. The work you do for those who will never know your name is the best legacy any representative can achieve.
Adam Cleveland, Democratic nominee for state House District 48, is a Johns Creek attorney, small business owner, father and husband. He is challenging incumbent Rep. Scott Hilton, R-Peachtree Corners, in the Nov. 3 election.