A Rivalry Renewed

Georgia > Florida

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World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party

I think one of the biggest problems with politics in our country today is the nationalization of everything. From the growth of the Federal Government to the culture wars, politics has almost single-handedly become about national politics with little attention paid to state or local affairs. This is antithetical to the federalist system that the framers of the Constitution established.

I think that there is a reinforcing cycle that is largely responsible for this political nationalization. When the Federal Government grows in its reach, it makes the state governments less meaningful and decreases the distinctions between the states. This makes people identify less and less with the state in which they live. As people identify less with the state in which they live, they are less protective of their state government’s power and encourage more Federal overreach.

What we need to combat this spiral is some good ole state pride and there are two major ways to instill it: sports and an enemy. This brings me to the Georgia-Florida football game this weekend AKA the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party. I was going to go through the history of the rivalry, talk about the biggest UGA victories (those are the only ones that count), and bash the University of Florida; however, I thought that was setting my sights too low.

As a result, I am not going to explain why the University of Georgia is better than the University of Florida. Instead, I am going to explain why the entire state of Georgia tops the state of Florida and I don’t just mean geographically.

Georgia Always Wins

The flame of rivalry between the two states has been burning since the founding of the states. The two states were founded by different nations with Florida being founded by the Spanish and Georgia being founded by the English. In fact, one of the reasons Georgia was founded by the English was to be a buffer state between English South Carolina and Spanish Florida.

The English were wise to do this because hostilities were inflamed in 1731 when the Spanish brutally cut off the ear of British captain Robert Jenkins. Georgia’s fearless leader, James Oglethorpe, then valiantly defended the Georgia colony from a Florida invasion at the Battle of Bloody Marsh in 1742 (yes, I am conveniently ignoring the part before this when Oglethorpe invaded Florida). Georgia taught Florida a lesson as Florida never invaded again and the two sides agreed on the St. Mary’s River as the boundary.

A similar beatdown took place in 1904 when the University of Georgia football team met the University of Florida football team in Macon, Georgia. Georgia proceeded to beat Florida 52-0 in a game that the University of Florida Athletic Department refuses to even recognize as part of the series. That game was a preview of the next 120 years of Georgia dominating Florida, leading the all-time series 53-44-2.

Florida was shut out again in 2021 except this time at the United States Supreme Court. In particular, the Supreme Court rejected Florida’s claim that Georgia uses too much of the water that flows from Atlanta to the Gulf of Mexico leading to the destruction of Florida’s oyster fisheries. Whether it is the 18th or 21st century, Georgia has routinely handed Florida loss after loss after loss.

Kemp > DeSantis

Since this is a mostly political newsletter, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention why Georgia’s governor is better than Florida’s governor. Now, I want to make clear that I’m not saying that DeSantis is a terrible governor or that Florida would be a terrible state to live in because of its government. I would certainly rather live in Florida than in an aggressively progressive state like California; Georgia is just better.

Let me use an analogy. If you had the option of walking or driving from Georgia to Texas you would obviously pick driving because walking to Texas would be miserable. However, if there was an option of riding in a luxury private jet then everyone would choose the luxury private jet without hesitation. California is walking to Texas, Florida is driving, and Georgia is flying in a luxury private jet.

Brian Kemp is a great governor in that he has spearheaded conservative policies. A few months ago, I wrote about Kemp’s conservative record so I won’t repeat myself here. In sum, Kemp has passed the pro-life Heartbeat Bill and constitutional carry, was the first governor to reopen out of the pandemic, and gave money back to taxpayers instead of spending it on nonsense.

He has done all of this without unnecessarily wading into the culture war in sometimes unconstitutional ways like Ron DeSantis. For example, DeSantis passed the Stop WOKE Act which prevented businesses and schools from saying members of one ethnic group are inherently racist. This was passed in an attempt to curtail things like diversity and inclusion pieces of training that rely on Critical Race Theory. While I have sympathy for the goal of the law, the reality is that the government cannot and should not tell businesses what they can and cannot say to their employees per the First Amendment.

Similarly, DeSantis passed a law that revoked the Reedy Creek Improvement District which allowed Disney to essentially operate as its own government entity that provided services that are typically provided by governments such as roads, fire, sewage, etc. This is necessary for a company like Disney as it basically operates its own city in Florida. So, why did DeSantis pass a law that abolished it? Because Disney said they disagreed with a bill that he passed. They disagreed with him and apparently he is too thin-skinned to take disagreement so he needed to punish them which we’ll just say isn’t in the spirit of the First Amendment at all.

In a nearly identical case, DeSantis blocked the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team from receiving state money for a new spring training facility because they argued for gun control laws after the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. I am largely against the government giving money to private companies or organizations to build facilities, but once the government has agreed, it can’t take the money back because it disagrees with the political speech of the organization.

If you want the conservative policies of Ron DeSantis without his thin-skinned desire for retribution against companies that disagree with him and his willingness to pass unconstitutional laws to get that revenge, then you want Brian Kemp.

Stuff to Do

If you live in Florida and you want a relaxing weekend away, then you can go to a nice, sandy beach… and that’s it. Hope you like the beach! Florida may have 99 problems but a beach ain’t one. Georgia, on the other hand, has anything that you could want.

For example, you can go to the North Georgia mountains and hike one of the over 1,500 hiking trailings, many of which end with a beautiful waterfall. If you want to go on a backpacking adventure, then you can go do that on the Appalachian Trail that starts in Georgia.

There are no mountains in Florida, just the beach. Well, don’t worry because Georgia has those as well - just make your way to Georgia’s barrier islands.

If you aren’t in the beachy part of Florida, then you are in the swamp. Now, I don’t think many people are dying to make their way to a swamp, but once again Georgia has swampy land as well: the Okefenokee Swamp.

Georgia even has physical features that Florida could never even imagine having, such as Providence Canyon. Providence Canyon is in Southwest Georgia and has massive gullies that are 150 feet in some places. I mean just look at these pictures:

Can’t find that anywhere in Florida.

Go Dawgs

Again, I’m not saying that Florida is a terrible state to live in, it’s just not Georgia. I don’t blame Florida for this. It does great with what it has. Honestly, it’s kind of reminiscent of the two football teams. Florida is a middle-of-the-road team with some high points but is overall underwhelming.

On the other hand, Georgia recruits better, has better players, a better coach, and a better record. It’s not that Florida doesn’t try to compete with Georgia; they simply can’t compete. A tale as old as the two states themselves.

God Bless,

Hunter Burnett