Daughtery’s passing is a loss for community, and for legal profession in Georgia

On behalf of the State Bar of Georgia, I would like to express condolences to the family, colleagues and many friends of Peter J. “Pete” Daughtery, a partner with Daughtery, Crawford & Brown LLP in Columbus, on his recent and very untimely passing.

During his distinguished career of 28 years in the legal profession, Mr. Daughtery was a true leader among his peers. He served as president of the Young Lawyers Division of the State Bar of Georgia (2001-02) and is a past member of the State Bar’s Executive Committee and Board of Governors and a past president of the Columbus Bar Association. As a student, he served as chairperson of the Moot Court Board at the University of Georgia School of Law and later as president of the law school’s Young Alumni Organization.

He also served the Columbus community in many capacities, including the boards of the Boys and Girls Club, Uptown Columbus and Midtown Columbus. He is a past president of the Open Door Community House and vice chairman of the Andrew College Board of Trustees.

Pete Daughtery’s exemplary lifetime of service is an inspiration to all Georgia lawyers. We are appreciative of his many generous contributions to the State Bar and to the cause of justice in our state. He will be missed and remembered.

War’s lessons

Vietnam War, with the non-ceremonious end to a death-filled, poignant non-victorious exercise in American hubris and a greedy war machine, the ever-present politico-military-industrial complex.

Sadness over the whole thing consumes. And after the war, 2 million Vietnamese continued to be killed by unexploded ordnance.

A Gettysburg Address could attempt to soothe the pain for the warring North and South Vietnamese ... but what about the interlopers, the Americans, whose emotions are being controlled by the same lying methods that Lenin used to communize Russia?

A reunified Vietnam is now the second-fastest-growing economy in the world, their victory.

May God help all the victims of war politics. Vietnam let outsiders come in to wreck their country starting with the self-aggrandizing French beginnings, and then follow-up American politics that went against Eisenhower's stern warnings about "that jungle" of the Military-Industrial Complex and "the jungle" itself. Even the Vietnamese called it the American War.

Will we learn the lessons we bought with 58,000 American lives? Ever? Will the monuments to the Vietnam War be torn down along with those of the War Between the States?

America, young America, is not invulnerable to an early death. Do the hard thing, America ... be smart, learn from history; 58,000 could be 580 million, or more.

A way forward

Everybody is debating Artificial Intelligence; despite the obvious benefits to humanity, a few brilliant minds are mulling the severe problems ahead. The most obvious and worrisome result of increasing numbers of robots is the displacement of millions of diverse workers, manual and professional, and of their incomes. The displacement will be temporarily beneficial to the corporate giants by eliminating wages and worker benefits, while transferring trillions of dollars to the upper financial echelons.

Economic reality will slam down hard, though, when more and more workers lose wages. Robots don’t buy groceries, cars, clothing, technology, art, or fine wines; and there aren’t enough wealthy stockholders and CEOs to maintain our burgeoning consumer economy. We will have an island of privilege, surrounded by the gnashing teeth of the hungry and dispossessed – a recipe for crime and anarchy.

A number of groups, some worldwide corporations, and a few governments have devised viable solutions:

A permanent WPA: This could engage millions of unemployed, while performing the endless chore of recreating and maintaining our crumbling infrastructure.

More time off from available jobs: With full pay for shorter work weeks, people would have time for education, family, recreation, and volunteer service.

Redefine “work”: Thousands of people do critical but unpaid work, such as parenting, caregiving for the elderly, mentoring, and enacting socially valuable community service.

Universal basic income: This is a novel response to the disastrous outcome of a robotic workforce. These experiments are already beginning in Finland, Uganda, the Netherlands, Canada, and Oakland, Calif.

To those who cry “Fie!” to what they perceive as socialism, remember: Since the New Deal, our American social contract, an agreement that workers will perform well for fair wages and just treatment, has preserved a fundamental level of social accord. To threaten this contract is to threaten our democracy.

Let’s try for better

Surely most of us would agree the level of disagreement in our federal government should be reduced and the level of constructive action should be increased. We can help by electing more dedicated and proven public officials to serve us in the U.S. Congress -- persons who will strive for justice, freedom, equality, and opportunity for all citizens. Those who will work cooperatively to provide, among other things, good paying jobs, quality education, affordable healthcare, livable wage, voting rights, equal pay for equal work, a healthy environment.

On December 12, we can support these ideals by electing Doug Jones to the U.S. Senate. Vote for positive, effective leadership. You will be pleased with the results.

This story was originally published November 9, 2017 at 3:54 PM with the headline "Daughtery’s passing is a loss for community, and for legal profession in Georgia."