Rest easy, Zell

Given I'm firmly right-of-center in my political worldview, I've often pondered if I could ever vote for a Democrat today. On the rare occasion someone has asked me if I ever could do such a thing, my typical retort was something along the lines of "Only if someone in the motif of Zell Miller were on the ballot."

I've often thought about the former governor and U.S. senator out of Georgia, particularly over the past 13+ years after his rousing speech at the 2004 Republican National Convention. It was always in the back of my mind to perform a simple Google search to find out what Miller's up to these days, but I never go around to it. Had I done so recently, I would have learned that he had withdrawn from public life due to a battle with Parkinson's disease. Sadly it was announced on Friday that ailment is what ended up taking his life.

“The people of Georgia have lose one of our state’s finest public servants,” grandson Bryan Miller said in a statement.

He said Miller “passed away peacefully at his home with family by his side.”

Miller was the 79th governor of Georgia, serving from 1991 through 1999. He represented the state of Georgia in the U.S. Senate from 2000 to 2005.

Miller’s political career began in 1959, when he served as mayor of Young Harris, moving on to become a Georgia state senator from 1961 to 1965. He then served as Georgia’s lieutenant governor from 1975 to 1991, making him the longest serving lieutenant governor in Georgia’s history.

Later in life, Miller was a Fox News contributor.

As governor, Miller created the Helping Outstanding Pupils Educationally (HOPE) scholarship, and Georgia’s voluntary pre-kindergarten program. According to the Miller Institute Foundation, more than 1.8 million students have gone to college in Georgia on HOPE scholarships, and more than 1.6 million four-year olds have begun their education through the pre-K program.

“These were his proudest achievements in his 46-year career in public service,” the foundation said in a statement Friday.

Many concern-trolling leftists often convey that today's GOP is soooooooooo extreme that someone with the same policy stances as, say, Ronald Reagan couldn't receive the party's nomination for president. It's classic projection given that it's a near certainty a Zell Miller (who was staunchly pro life and a war hawk) would be persona non grata among today's Democrat party.

Thanks for your service, Mr. Miller.

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