Ed Wood "The Right Stuff" Published Jan. 8, 2003

Two peas in a pod

I know the states of Tennessee and Georgia are much alike. We even share a common border. You can hardly tell when you leave one state and reach the other. That's OK. But do we really have to follow each other's ill-conceived political philosophies as well?

Tennessee Sen. Steve Cohen, D-Memphis, just returned from leading a "blue-ribbon" committee of legislators to Georgia to learn how we can follow their lead in implementing and managing Tennessee's anticipated lottery program. Learning from those who have been there is a good idea. But one can only hope that Sen. Cohen and others were also made aware that the Georgia lottery is not a revenue-producing activity, as it was represented to be, and that its financial shortfall is being supplemented from general tax funds, as is also the case in South Carolina, Florida and elsewhere.

But Tennessee does now have an opportunity to get even. We have a success story we can share with Georgia. Our success in the offering of Tennessee driver's licenses and, subsequently, voting privilege, to illegal aliens!

I was in Atlanta last month. The banner headline from the Dec. 17 edition of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution was "Illegal Immigrant Drivers Licenses Endorsed." And who was doing the endorsing? None other than the chiefs of police in Atlanta and the surrounding DeKalb County. And of course there is always an opportunistic political sponsor, in this instance, Georgia Rep. Barbara Mobley, D-Decatur.

Their reasoning? (And I'm not making this up, folks!) The police chiefs say that licensing illegal aliens would, "Lead them to buy auto insurance and learn the rules of the road." Now the fact that they cannot read the road signs may be a drawback, but that's another story for another day. Other unnamed law enforcement officials were quoted in the <I>Journal<I> as saying, "The effect would be fewer crashes that involve uninsured motorists, which would help keep insurance premiums down for all drivers." Rep. Mobley then added, "This is a safety issue. It will improve national security by giving authorities a clearer picture of who lives here."

Since our program has already been in effect for a year or so, certainly Sen. Cohen and others will want to share Tennessee's success in attaining the above-mentioned goals of less accidents, better driving habits, more comprehensive insurance coverage and improved national security.

And I am expecting my reduced auto insurance premium to arrive any day now.

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Ed Wood is a resident of Sparta, TN. His column is published each Wednesday in the Crossville Chronicle.