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Articles by Marc Hyden
MARC HYDEN: To arrest prison crisis, lawmakers should give these ideas a second look
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... Another day, another serious complaint against the Georgia Department of Corrections. The most recent stems from Harris v. Georgia, which alleges the department failed to “provide incarcerated deaf and hard of hearing people with equally effective communication access to programs, services and activities, including medical care, telecommunications and prison programs.” This comes on the heels of other concerning accusations.
Seeing isn’t believing when deepfakes pervade politics
AI-generated videos and images are becoming inescapable and threaten to turbocharge disinformation in Georgia elections, and while the technology is new, the tactic is not. Irish essayist Jonathan Swift remarked in 1710, “We are told the devil is the father of lies [but] he seems, like other great inventors, to have lost much of his reputation, by the continual improvements that have been made upon him.” Where have many of these improvements been made, according to Swift? The political realm.
Trump declares war on credit card rewards
President Donald Trump’s popularity appears to be sinking faster than a stone in the Strait of Hormuz. The most recent poll shows him with a paltry 30% approval rating, amid his ill-conceived intervention in Iran, and the results of his Middle East foray are making it even harder for Americans to make ends meet.
A space-age solution to the digital divide
Georgia has for years positioned itself as the Silicon Valley of the South, attracting technology investments from across the globe, but the state has wrestled with a glaring problem: Much of it has historically lacked broadband internet access. This was the case for much of rural Georgia where as recently as 2021 large swaths of unserved locations existed because it was not profitable for providers to build out the necessary infrastructure.
COLUMN: Milei drops truths on United Nations
Ask any person what the United Nations is, and they are liable to say, “It’s that big building in New York City where nothing consequential happens.” While this is an unfair characterization, the U.N. is limited in power and its proceedings are often very dry. Rather than following U.N. developments, I generally focus on state and federal issues, but when I hear that Argentine President Javier Milei is speaking at the U.N., I tend to pay closer attention.
COLUMN: Milei drops truths on United Nations
Ask any person what the United Nations is, and they are liable to say, "It's that big building in New York City where nothing consequential happens." While this is an unfair characterization, the U.N. is limited in power and its proceedings are often very dry. Rather than following U.N. developments, I generally focus on state and federal issues, but when I hear that Argentine President Javier Milei is speaking at the U.N., I tend to pay closer attention.
Is AI doomsday another bust?
The world is going to end. Nobody knows how or when, but that doesn’t stop them from offering their predictions. The Mayan Calendar allegedly pinpointed Dec. 21, 2012 as the end of time, and climate activist Greta Thunberg seemed to forecast an apocalypse by 2023. None of these came to fruition – thankfully. The latest fear centers around artificial intelligence (AI), and it has been dominating headlines.
Inflator-in-chief keeps losing on affordability
President Donald Trump warned in 2016 that he could ultimately prove too successful at solving America’s problems. “We’re gonna win so much,” he boasted, “you may even get tired of winning. And you’ll say, ‘Please, please. It’s too much winning. We can’t take it anymore, Mr. President, it’s too much.’” Political campaigns rise and fall on kitchen table issues, like affordability, and Trump knows this.
A tale of two states shows dangers of overregulation
In a perfect world, state and local governments wouldn’t be powerful enough to devastate communities and leave them in ruin. Governments would be limited, and free markets would largely rule. Unfortunately, we do not live in this utopia. We live in the real world in which many state officials love to grow government to their own detriment.
The Odyssey embarrasses anti-woke crusaders
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... One of the troubling realities of living in a hyper-politicized world is that it sometimes feels impossible to escape politics, even at movie theaters. People increasingly complain that Hollywood embeds political agendas into its movies. Many viewers are so weary of the trend that they see politics even where no ulterior motive exists.
Don’t blame data centers for failed public policy
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... Data centers have become a kind of boogeyman among voters lately. Recent polling even suggests that new data center construction is less popular than the IRS. Only 27% of Americans at least somewhat favor new data center construction, according to Gallup. Meanwhile, YouGov found that 28% of Americans have a favorable view of the IRS.
Trump puts DOGE out of its misery
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... The once-vaunted Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) — originally led in part by Elon Musk — is officially no more. As of July 4, 2026, President Donald Trump allowed the agency to sunset, even though it imploded and virtually ceased to exist as a functioning program in November 2025.
As insurance rates fall, tort reform takes much-deserved victory lap
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... Few of Gov. Brian Kemp’s policy initiatives have sparked as much controversy as his efforts to rein in rampant lawsuit abuse. He began championing this in 2023, and at the time, Georgia had one of the country’s most problematic civil justice systems — particularly burdening insurers and consumers. A 2023 study even found that the broken tort system annually resulted in about 124,000 fewer jobs locally and it increased costs on each Georgian by about $1,200.
Georgia’s special legislative session wasn’t particularly special
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... State lawmakers returned to Atlanta for a special legislative session with high hopes: Many Republicans wanted to conduct mid-decade redistricting to bolster their numbers and curtail local property taxes, but most of all, lawmakers needed to fix an embarrassing error that risked throwing elections into chaos. Yet, after lawmakers adjourned the short special session on June 23, they had few wins to show for their efforts. In the wake of the Louisiana v.
What Ancient Rome teaches us about saving America
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... America is approaching a major milestone: its semiquincentennial, which is a fancy word that scarcely anyone knows how to spell or pronounce. It simply denotes that 2026 is the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Despite this passage of time, America looks pretty good for her age. Of course, there have been a number of proud and shameful moments in our history, and we are currently on a concerning trajectory.
Atlanta’s World Cup welcome has a MARTA problem
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... Policymakers were thrilled when a World Cup committee chose Atlanta to host eight soccer matches. Being a host venue would put Atlanta back on the world stage, generate revenue and allow Georgians to showcase our amenities, like Mercedes-Benz Stadium. As the matches approached, the refrain among local leaders has largely been the same: Georgia will be or is ready for prime time. But that only seems partially true.
Senator’s AI proposal follows an old, failed playbook
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... If bad ideas could serve as an energy source, then Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT, might become America’s most valuable commodity. Over the years, he has proven to be a wellspring of perhaps well-intentioned but wholly inadvisable policy positions. “I favor the public ownership of utilities, banks and major industries,” he announced in 1976.
How Georgia Democrats snatched defeat from the jaws of victory
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... The stars recently seemed aligned for Georgia Democrats to accomplish something truly extraordinary: unseating two Republican-appointed Georgia Supreme Court justices. It has been over a century since a challenger defeated an incumbent justice, and this became the Democrats’ top electoral priority.
Lights, camera, bad deal: Georgia’s film subsidies never paid off
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... Photo Courtesy of Marc Hyden Hailed the Hollywood of the South, Georgia’s once-soaring film industry is crashing down to Earth. Last fiscal year, 245 productions were filmed in the Peach State, which resulted in $2.3 billion in spending, but that pales in comparison with 2022 — Georgia’s zenith — when there were 412 productions that drove $4.4 billion in spending. It is not a mystery where these TV and film productions are going or why.
What happens when Americans learn how indebted they are?
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
Trump’s tariff infatuation cost Georgians dearly
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... There are few things President Donald Trump loves more than gold-plated furnishings and seeing his name and face emblazoned on public property — except, perhaps, tariffs. Unfortunately, his obsession is so unhealthy that it will give his therapist fits and is toxic to hardworking Georgians. Trump’s unabashed romance with tariffs began long before his presidency, but they became a key part of his second term.
Redistricting wrongs erode your rights
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... Photo Courtesy of Marc Hyden Ask any parent of a child who has retaliated against another, and the refrain is often the same: “Two wrongs don’t make a right.” Sure, it is an overused, pithy statement, but it is so universally true and understandable that even a child can grasp it. Yet too frequently it falls on deaf ears among politicians and their most die-hard partisans, and the results can be detrimental.
Mixed results from the Gold Dome
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... Lawmakers often enter legislative session with bold ambitions to pass landmark laws that help their constituents. The 2026 session was no different, but it had a sharper focus: Republican leadership’s top priority was alleviating the high cost of living, followed by updating the code in other critical ways to serve Georgians in the future. As is always the case, several of these dreams were dashed. Democrats unified and created obstacles to GOP proposals.
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... Leadership in the Georgia General Assembly has been crystal clear about their top priority: Easing the pain of price inflation. At first blush, this seems like a bipartisan issue since affordability affects all stripes of voters. But apparently reaching consensus on how to accomplish that goal is no easy feat. At the top of the list is House Resolution 1114, sponsored by Rep. Shaw Blackmon, R-Bonaire, and co-sponsored by Speaker of the House Jon Burns.
Pizza, potholes and the case for smart local procurement
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... An unlikely hero emerged a handful of years ago to fix a nagging problem that bedevils nearly every American. Domino’s Pizza began filling potholes, including in Georgia, to supposedly safeguard their pizzas’ integrity. It was an obvious marketing ploy, which has since ended, but it laid bare our infrastructure’s sad reality.
MARC HYDEN: Trump’s Rome remarks a maelstrom of falsehoods – Albany Herald
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... President Trump flew to Georgia last week to tout his administration’s alleged economic success and stump for his anointed political candidates. While his long rambling speech was met by roaring applause, it was peppered with statements that were misleading and even patently false. Was Trump intentionally deceiving the crowd or is he disconnected from the realities on the ground?
MARC HYDEN: In defiance of history, states consider insurance price controls – Albany Herald
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... “There is nothing new under the sun,” according to the book of Ecclesiastes, and that’s especially true for bad public policy. Legislators love recycling old, failed laws and presenting them as innovative, forward-looking initiatives. We are in the midst of one of those vicious cycles, or to quote Yogi Berra, “It’s like déjà vu all over again.” “America is in a cost crisis when it comes to home and auto insurance,” the Wall Street Journal recently noted.
COLUMN: On driverless cars, D.C. Republicans ditch free-market roots – The Macon Melody
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... It wasn’t that long ago that Republicans championed themselves as the party of lower taxes, free trade and innovation and took an unflinching stance on unions — but then something curious happened. A populist movement upended the political right’s long-standing order.
MARC HYDEN: Georgia housing market may be nearing tipping point – Albany Herald
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... If you are one of the untold number of Georgians impatiently waiting for the housing market to correct, you may be in luck soon. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution even announced, “Metro Atlanta becomes buyers’ market—for those who can afford it.” But this is a bit of a confusing declaration. If housing remains doggedly unaffordable, then it is hardly evidence of a buyer’s market.
MARC HYDEN: Private enterprise, please fix Georgia’s awful traffic – Albany Herald
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... Several years ago, I was speaking to a small group of political activists and was bemoaning government’s many shortcomings. This apparently struck a nerve with one of the attendees who retorted, “How’d you enjoy driving on the roads to get here?” His rhetorical question was transparent. He believed government did many things well and was a necessity for everyday matters like transportation.
MARC HYDEN: Smoking study committee should follow the science – Albany Herald
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... It wasn’t that long ago that screaming “follow the science” was all the rage, even if the alleged science wasn’t remotely settled. Fast forward a few years, and that phrase has largely fallen by the wayside, but plenty of people are still not following the science — although the state Legislature has an opportunity to do so. Georgia House Speaker Jon Burns announced the formation of the House Study Committee on the Costs & Effects of Smoking.
MARC HYDEN: Extraterrestrial gatekeepers can't be trusted to tell truth – Albany Herald
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... Anyone who has watched the History Channel’s “Ancient Aliens” knows that the show’s hosts love to attribute just about any ancient feat to aliens: Who built Stonehenge? Aliens. What about the pyramids? Aliens. What killed off the dinosaurs? Aliens, obviously. The program even presented a supposed bigfoot/alien connection. Much of the show centers around the laughably ridiculous, but some people evidently buy into these arguments and accept them as truth.
MARC HYDEN: Georgia Senate set for mass exodus – Albany Herald
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... One of the immutable truths in politics is that just about every position — except the presidency — can be viewed as a possible stepping stone to higher office. This sounds like a particularly cynical hot-take, but it’s the truth for a variety of reasons. Burnout in our hyper-political environment, low lawmaker pay and vacancies higher up the electoral food chain can influence officials to seek different roles.
Glory, Guts, Gaffes: Rethinking Emperor Titus’ Complex Military Legacy
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... Despite being one of ancient Rome’s most beloved emperors, Titus has garnered only limited interest from modern historians. The reason is likely due to his incredibly short imperial tenure—a little over two years (79-81 AD), but his battlefield successes have proven unforgettable.
MARC HYDEN: College sports are teaching athletes troubling life lessons – Albany Herald
Something gross is happening to college sports, and state lawmakers could make it even worse. As it stands, collegiate football increasingly resembles the NFL. Top college athletes are becoming millionaires and abandoning even the pretense of loyalty to their educational institutions. For fans like me, this is terrible news. I have long been a die-hard college football fan who has reveled in school traditions, rivalries and the sport’s amateur nature.
MARC HYDEN: Vote your conscious, pay the price: Georgia politics devolves into blood sport – Albany Herald
Elections have consequences, according to an old adage that is plainly aimed at urging people to vote for certain political candidates. If voters don’t, as the saying warns, they’ll have to live with the ramifications. In the same vein, how lawmakers vote also has consequences. But maybe not the ones you think. Of course, constituents can vote out incumbents who do not uphold their values.
MARC HYDEN: Pulse check: Criminal justice reform is alive in Georgia
Georgia was the nation's epicenter of criminal justice reform during Gov. Nathan Deal's administration, and he left it in much better shape than he found it. The Peach State had long had one of the most troubled justice systems, but Deal sought to reverse those trends. He championed a host of sentencing reforms, establishing accountability courts, expanding parole in lieu of prison time and tackled bail reform. For justice reformers, it was an exciting time, but it couldn't last in perpetuity.
MARC HYDEN: Pulse check: Criminal justice reform is alive in Georgia – Albany Herald
Georgia was the nation’s epicenter of criminal justice reform during Gov. Nathan Deal’s administration, and he left it in much better shape than he found it. The Peach State had long had one of the most troubled justice systems, but Deal sought to reverse those trends. He championed a host of sentencing reforms, establishing accountability courts, expanding parole in lieu of prison time and tackled bail reform. For justice reformers, it was an exciting time, but it couldn’t last in perpetuity.
MARC HYDEN: Consumer protection legislation powers electric debate
If you want to see battle lines drawn in the Georgia General Assembly, watch any piece of legislation that is perceived to curtail the power of a government agency or a business monopoly. Every so often, you will find a bill that does both. In those cases, you're encouraged to take cover because it will be a combative debate. That's what happened at a recent Senate Regulated Industries hearing when committee members considered Senate Bill 34, a bill sponsored by Sen. Chuck Hufstetler, R-Rome.
MARC HYDEN: Consumer protection legislation powers electric debate – Albany Herald
If you want to see battle lines drawn in the Georgia General Assembly, watch any piece of legislation that is perceived to curtail the power of a government agency or a business monopoly. Every so often, you will find a bill that does both. In those cases, you’re encouraged to take cover because it will be a combative debate. That’s what happened at a recent Senate Regulated Industries hearing when committee members considered Senate Bill 34, a bill sponsored by Sen. Chuck Hufstetler, R-Rome.
MARC HYDEN: Georgia legislature looks to move on from price controls
The very day that the COVID-19 outbreak was declared a pandemic, I told my girlfriend at the time (now my wife) to grab her cat and move in with me. We didn't know how bad the virus might be, and despite being incredibly allergic to her mostly deaf, one-toothed, geriatric cat who liked to howl into the night, we were determined to get through the pandemic together. We did, and we thrived. However, we had to find a way to consolidate our household furnishings, which still makes my wife grimace.
MARC HYDEN: Georgia legislature looks to move on from price controls – Albany Herald
The very day that the COVID-19 outbreak was declared a pandemic, I told my girlfriend at the time (now my wife) to grab her cat and move in with me. We didn’t know how bad the virus might be, and despite being incredibly allergic to her mostly deaf, one-toothed, geriatric cat who liked to howl into the night, we were determined to get through the pandemic together. We did, and we thrived. However, we had to find a way to consolidate our household furnishings, which still makes my wife grimace.
MARC HYDEN: Give Trump credit for trying to cut federal fat – Albany Herald
Call me a miserly penny-pincher if you want, but I am heartened by the Trump administration’s recent pivot toward cutting wasteful spending. The federal government has run trillion-dollar deficits for years, hasn’t balanced a budget in more than two decades and our national debt now sits at more than $36 trillion. Untangling the feds’ love affair with frivolous spending has become the modern era’s proverbial Gordian Knot, but perhaps there is room for some cautious optimism.
Marc Hyden, Author at Albany Herald
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MARC HYDEN: Remembering a lion of the Georgia Senate, my friend Bruce Thompson
In politics, friendships are often superficial and only last as long as they have utility. Once they are no longer deemed beneficial, they can dissipate into the ether. That’s the transactional nature of the political world, but after spending many years working in politics, I can tell you not everyone falls into this vicious cycle. Former state Senator and Labor Commissioner Bruce Thompson was different.
MARC HYDEN: Trump tariffs could worsen rather than tame inflation
The debilitating inflation plaguing the Biden administration helped secure Donald Trump’s improbable return to the White House. Since President Biden took office, prices have increased on average by more than 21%, and voters have rightly become sick of this pain. The majority put more faith in Trump than Vice President Kamala Harris on the economy, and as such, ushered Trump back into power. This isn’t Trump’s first foray into tariffs.
MARC HYDEN: Election post-mortem: Democracy isn’t dead; it’s thriving
Democracy and hyperbole were on the November ballot, if you heard a word pundits and social media influencers uttered. “If we don’t show up [on Election Day], it is entirely possible that we will not have the opportunity to ever cast a ballot again,” Oprah Winfrey warned. Meanwhile, Hollywood director Rob Reiner delivered one of the cringiest pre-election statements: “A woman gave birth to each and every one of us.
MARC HYDEN: Georgians understand economic pain; why can’t others?
In the lead-up to the presidential election, The New York Times decided to outline the Biden administration’s supposed economic successes: “The job market has been chugging along, although more slowly [and] overall growth has been healthy.” Despite this, voters don’t hold a rosy view of the economy, which baffles the Times. “Inflation is basically back to normal. Why do voters still feel blah?” the Times rhetorically asked.
MARC HYDEN: Republicans split on giving bureaucrats unchecked power
As a proponent of limited government, I naturally get annoyed when unelected bureaucrats rule by fiat, ignore long-standing laws and trample the Constitution. For years, federal regulators have done just this. However, a U.S. Supreme Court ruling recently curtailed their ability to do so by striking down the administrative law doctrine known as Chevron Deference, which automatically deferred to agency officials’ interpretations of law. Republicans roundly cheered its downfall.
MARC HYDEN: Argentina’s free market reforms a lesson for America
While most Americans have been keenly focused on our presidential politics, I’ve been looking at matters farther south: Argentina to be exact, where the country is in the midst of a libertarian experiment — thanks to eccentric President Javier Milei. The experiment has only recently begun, but it can provide a valuable lesson to America’s policymakers that more government isn’t always the answer. Less government generally is.
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