Georgia Republicans are going to war with Delta over that airline’s decision to cut ties with the National Rifle Association. They might end up combatting crony capitalism — albeit unwittingly.
The airline decided to end the promotional perks it offered the five million NRA members after the school shooting in Florida. Republicans didn’t take kindly to that and responded by taking hostage the millions of dollars the state offers in tax breaks for jet fuel.
“If Delta is so flush that they don’t need NRA members’ hard-earned travel dollars,” said state. Sen. Rick Jeffares, “it can certainly do without the $40 million tax break they are asking Georgia taxpayers for.”
Good.
It is rare in politics that politicians do the right thing for the right reason. The trick in our constitutional system is to get self-interested people to act in the interest of good government. A reflection of human nature, the process is almost always messy and a bit convoluted.
As Erick Erickson recently observed, by dealing a blow to the NRA and by offending Georgia Republicans, Delta may have inadvertently struck a blow to crony capitalism down south.
