Georgia Democrats Need A More "FOCUSED" Message To Draw Rural Voters.

Another election is upon us and just like previous years, Democratic recruitment was abysmal in both the State House and State Senate seats.

Georgia Democrats (mostly based around Metro Atlanta) know they must do better in rural areas. They know that, but so far they have failed to come up with a answer to solve ins woes in a region they once had a significant presence. Minority Leader Stacey Abrams doesn't have a clue because she is too tied up with her own personal and political ambitions at the expense of House Democrats who appear satisfied with being in the minority for the next 10, 15 years. The only people who know the pulse of rural Georgia are State Reps. Debbie Buckner (D-Junction City), Virgil Fludd (D-Fayetteville), Scott Holcomb (D-Tucker). Even with Dubose Porter who is a product of rural Georgia and a former disciple of former Senator Sam Nunn it seems doesn't have the answer of he in fact does have the answer, but is outnumbered by progressive liberals who know control the DPG and othe Democratic groups.

The bottom line is progressive Democrats based in metro Atlanta still don’t quite get what’s working at the grassroots down here. It’s not soft messaging about rural development. What’s working is a clear “Which side are you on?” message when it comes to defending rural schools and services, and the teachers and public employees who provide them, against a Republican austerity message that shifts even more of the burden from the wealthy to working families making less that $50,000 a year.

Schools and services are what keep small towns strong. If the fight is between Democrats who want to defend public schools, public services, and Republicans who want to sacrifice them in order to give tax breaks to the rich, that’s when you’ll see rural voters (White Working Class Voters) shifting back to the Democrats. The problem is how to break then from

Candidate Chris Irvin Agriculture Commissioner 2010 in Vidalia

the trance of Republicanism since the Reagan Era.

Reaching rural voters will take a strong message from Democrats here in Georgia. Republicans offer a simple message of cutting taxes. When in power, their party is more unified. For Democrats to compete, they must have an economic message that also appeals to poor and middle class families.

Metro Atlanta Democrats like Minority Stacey Abrams may not want to hear it, but the temptation for those Midtown liberals is to shake their heads over those down state, godforsaken white-working-class voters who are voting against their own interests. But this reaction misses the complexity of the political dynamic that’s taken hold in this state. It misdiagnoses the Democratic Party’s growing conundrum with working-class white voters. And it also keeps them from fully grasping what’s going on in communities like Hahira, Eastman, Vidalia where conditions have deteriorated.  If the Democrats are to avoid going the way of the dinosaur, they have to solve the rural riddle here in the Peach State!

We Need To Be More Open To School Choice Here In Georgia, Especially In The Democratic Party

A better-educated Georgia, and a better-educated family, is a major void in current school reform efforts here in the state. The issues of competition and accountability are all too often ignored in efforts to improve public education. 

Now I'm a strong supporter of public schools, in fact I am a product of the public school system.  But I'm also in favor of school choice, which is a change from a few years ago. Quite simply, I believe in giving parents more choice about where to educate their children. My support of school choice is founded in the common sense premise that no parent should be forced to send a child to a poorly performing school.'

Unfortunately, however, countless parents, especially in the urban cities, are now forced to do just that. Parents in middle and upper-class communities have long practiced school choice. They made sure that their children attended schools where they would get the best possible education. There is no reason why this option should be closed to low-income parents. Education used to be the poor child’s ticket out of poverty. Now it’s part of the system that traps people in the underclass.

Why school choice? 

Two reasons: excellence and accountability. Parents want academic excellence for their children. They also want to know that there is someone in their child’s school who is ACCOUNTABLE for achieving those high academic standards.

In most cities/towns in this state, however, if your child is zoned into a school that is not performing well academically, and where teachers and administrators don’t see themselves as being responsible for academic performance, parents have no recourse. Parents can only send their child to that school and hope for the best. Under a school choice plan, a parent would have options. There would be consequences for a school’s poor performance. Parents could pull their children out of poorly performing schools and enroll them someplace else. If exercising this option leads to a mass exodus from certain underachieving schools, schools will learn this painful lesson: schools will either improve, or close due to declining enrollments.

 Nonetheless, believe that the Democratic Party should re-evaluate its position on school choice issues. 

Choice should not be included in partisan tones. School choice should be about giving our state’s children the best possible educational foundation. Some low-income Black parents here in Georgia have shown they care so much that they will even go so far as to look halfway around the world.....well not around the world, but a neighboring county/city in order to find a good school for their children.

And I've also hear people say that school choice is elitist, or even racist. The truth is that black low-income children are among the prime victims of the state’s failing public schools. Black parents know this all too well. This is why they have been so open to the idea of school choice.

With time, and through open dialogue, critics of school choice will come to see this movement for what it is: part of an emerging new battle for the millennium, the battle for education equity. We need to give poor children the same right that children from more upscale households have long enjoyed. The right to an education that will prepare them to make a meaningful contribution to society. It is that simple

2012 & Beyond: Georgia Democrats Need To Roll Up Their Sleeves & Get Down To Business!

After this election, Peach State Democrats need to "shift attention away from National happenings and get down to business toward a bold effort to provide a bold alternative to the Georgia GOP to create jobs, improve the economy and address issues facing rural Georgians a.k.a. the Forgotten Ones in time for the 2014 Statewide Elections

Step one: Finding & supporting strong candidates that you envision running statewide one day.

This is perhaps one of the democrats biggest problems. Too often, the party are left with one-issue themed, one-dimensional candidates who cannot articulate the message & who lack appeal across racial & party lines. In many areas across Georgia, the one-size fits all method doesn't apply. Now let's be real here, there are different strokes for different folks, so just like a conservative democrat can never win a seat in midtown Atlanta, a liberal cannot win a seat in Southeast Georgia..so finding candidates that best fits the district is crucial. Rural Progressives will never..ever win a rural seat, unless its gerrymandered, packing as many Black voters possible in a district.

Step two: Find a solution to give our parents other options in terms of school choice for their children.

Many Democrats are down right opposed to the Charter School Amendment that will be decided by Georgia Voters in November. OK, if that's the case, then come up with another alternative because just throwing money at public schools will not solve its problems. Magnet Schools is one way to start. Magnet schools are specialized schools within the public school system that attract certain types of students. Many magnet schools have good reputations for teaching students, especially in their specialty areas

Step three: Come up with a plan to address growing issues facing rural Georgia.

Rural Georgia remains a region that democrats can make a run at...if they have it in them. Many rural counties are without a hospital while those who have them are at risk of losing them....underperforming public school systems, lack of industry, high poverty, unemployment & the lack of representation of our agricultural interest. This will be a hard issue to address because of the lack of rural democrats in Georgia, except for those representing urban enclaves in cities such as Macon, Columbus, etc..

Step four: Reach out to ex-Democrats (Reagan Democrats)

These Democrats are blue-collar, non–college educated white voters who abandoned the Democratic Party during the 1970s and 80s, out of anger at Democratic support for policies like welfare and affirmative action, and leap into the outstretched arms of Ronald Reagan. They are fairly libertarian and anti-government intrusiveness and are much more concerned with guns than the pill. These voters can be won back..depending on the candidate. Right now there are only 2 rural white democrats left, Debbie Buckner (D-Junction City) & Barbara Massey-Reese (D-Menlo). Like it or not liberals, you need rural democrats in your ranks if you even want to sniff a majority in the future. Open your arms & accept democrats who are different in ideology & positions. It'll be healthy for the party in the long term.

So a Georgia Democratic Party refocused on revitalizing our economy, reaching out to disaffected democrats, putting more emphasis on rural Georgia & a suitable plan for education the party can re-establishing itself as the party for the working class. If they do this, victory at the polling booths will take care of itself.

 

Homeschool Domination?

I got this interesting email from a reader who happened to stumble onto Peanut Politics & in it it shows some interesting numbers when it comes to kids being homeschooled compared to those who are attending public schools. Take a look at it...

Georgia Public Schools & School Vouchers

We all know the republicans love School Vouchers to death, which will divert public money to the private sector, therefore putting Georgia Public Schools on a sure path towards a sure, but slow death.

Let's face it, the School Voucher issue is about politics. Nothing else!

12 years ago, Grover Norquist, one of the most influential Republican strategists said in a 1998 interview with Insight , the magazine of the conservative Washington Times, has long recognized the partisan value of vouchers, sometimes euphemistically referred to as "choice." "School choice reaches right into the heart of the Democratic coalition and takes people out of it.

The teacher unions back up their support for the Democratic Party with money and grassroots organization. After all, public schools exist in every municipality and county in the state. Unlike manufacturing, teaching cannot be outsourced to Mexico, China, or Bangladesh.

School vouchers are a way to diminish that power. "School choice allows children and money to leave the system, and that means there will be fewer public teacher jobs, lower union membership, and lower dues. It's long been obvious that vouchers are an attack on teacher unions. The main motivation of some of the choice supporters was to weaken public education unions. Another thing, eliminating public education may seem un-American. but a growing number of movement conservatives have signed a so-called proclamation from the Alliance for the Separation of School and State that favors ending government involvement in education.

While universal vouchers remain the goal, for tactical reasons conservatives have wrapped vouchers in the mantle of concern for poor African Americans and Latinos. Indeed,some voucher supporters are fond of calling school choice the new civil rights movement. This plays well not only with voters of color but also with liberal suburban whites who, while they may be leery of allowing significant numbers of minorities into their schools, nonetheless support the concept of equal rights for all.

Even if Republicans fail to woo African Americans and Latinos to the Republican Party, they may dampen African American and Latino voter turnout--a neutralization strategy, as it were. The Republican emphasis on vouchers runs the risk of alienating moderate Republicans who support public education. Such support is strong not only in rural areas where public schools are a vital part of the community and private schools are few, but also in suburban communities with strong, well-funded public schools.

But that won't stop conservatives , who view vouchers as a key ingredient in their effort to "downsize" government services. "The problem is that the federal government hands out billions of dollars, and people will lie, cheat, steal, or bribe to get it.

If you have a big cake, and you put it under the sink and then you wonder why the cockroaches are in your kitchen, I don't think any sprays or blocking the holes in the walls are going to get rid of the cockroaches. You've got to throw the cake in the trash so that the cockroaches don't have something to come for."

The people of Georgia do not view public schoolteachers and students as cockroaches. The overwhelming majority strongly support public schools. They don't want them dismantled; they just want them to work better.

But you can expect that with a increased majority in both Chambers & with Nathan Deal in control of the mansion, the thought of school vouchers maybe one step close to reality.