Tim Scott, Chic Fil A and a new way forward for Georgia and America

    Dan Cathy was in my freshman Religion class the fall of 1971 At Furman University. His Father Truett, named for the greatest Baptist the first half of the 20th Century George W. Truett was the founder of Chic Fil a of which son Dan is soon retiring as CEO. A deeply religious family, Truett was a trustee of Mercer University in the 80s and Dan matriculated after a year and a half at Furman to Samford from which he graduated.

     Tim Scott referenced Chic Fil A last night in his Republican response to Joe Biden. Given the race baiting of Donald Trump, and the legacy of Lee Atwater and his "Nigger" memo, the first chapter flash point of Stuart Stevens It Was a Lie; Atwater's fellow South Carolinian Scott was an interesting point for certain for a Party who were given the goods this last week in The Atlantic.

       I think Scott has a point about race in America. But he will carry the virtue the GOP wants to place on him when every public school in South Carolina starts telling at least the truth about the state's history and american history, at minimum what SC's Walter Edgar and Vernon Burton have been recommending for 20 years or more now. Go to Woodruff or Cowpens or Union or Batesburg and bring us a report Senator Scott about how true American history is being taught in the state's schools. How many people on your staff, and interns, of the last seven years have a working conversational knowledge of Joe Crespino's Strom Thurmond's America or Jill Lepore's These Truths

    Show me a Republican in South Carolina who is telling the truth about abortion politics or the dark money of the gun lobby. What Republican in SC passes the Viola Davis or Chadwick Bozeman screening for truth telling.

    I have hope for Senator Scott bi partisan work on the George Floyd bill with Cory Booker and others. Peggy Noonan was giving the committee a shoutout Sunday on NBC Meet the Press.  But that is a world away from what Brine Kemp and MT Greene are doing in Georgia and Jeff Duncan in SC's 3rd District and Ralph Norman in York and Cherokee County.

     Chic Fil A has seem to have been struck mute on a lot of matters swelling up in Georgia including the voter suppression of Brine Kemp, the foolishness of the current Ga Southern Baptist Convention, not to mention Doug Collins and Qanon Prom Queen Marge Taylor Greene.

    There were credible reports Truett Cathy, as did many Georgia baptists, flirted with the John Birch Society in the 50s and 60s. I am convinced he evolved into a more discerning Christian by the time my first cousin by marriage spoke at his funeral.

    Dan has ready and willing counsel among discerning Baptists all across the Southeast to help him navigate this moment fogged by Tim Scott last night.

    I am not boycotting the chicken sandwich. The Cathy's are good people and I had the number one combo maxxed up Monday afternoon. Spent the night when the Ft Payne Alabama unit opened in July of 2017 to get my hundred free meals for a year. Saw Dan about five years ago. On several occasions my immediate family has been the recipient of their kindness.

    But this is a pivotal moment. Chic Fil A has had the spotlight before, but Scott last night is a new inflection point. Here is a public challenge to Chic Fil A and it s wide network of influence in to the guts of the Trump Base to be more like Lincoln than Jeff Davis.