The Fault Line Georgia Democrats Avoid Naming

There’s a conversation sitting in the middle of the Democratic Party that most folks would rather walk around than deal with. It’s not new. It’s not subtle. It’s just uncomfortable.

(D) Bob Trammell,  candidate for Attorney General 

You’ve got Democrats who come out of the Blue Dog, moderate, pragmatic lane. They’re credentialed. They’re experienced. They’re serious about governing. And they’re white.

And in a party where identity politics shapes a lot of the internal energy, that creates a collision nobody wants to say out loud.

So here’s the cold question:  

Can Democratic primary voters look past race and gender and judge candidates strictly on qualifications and ideas when the candidates come from inside their own party?

Not who’s better.  

Not who should win.  

Just whether voters can separate identity from evaluation.

Because the party talks a lot about representation and for good reason. But it also talks about experience, competence, and governing ability. Those values don’t always point in the same direction, and when they don’t, the room gets quiet.

Some voters lead with identity.  

Some lead with ideology.  

Some lead with resume.  

Some lead with electability.  

Some lead with who they trust to handle the job.

Those instincts don’t always line up. And when they don’t, the party has to decide which value actually comes first.

That’s the part nobody wants to say out loud.

Not because it’s complicated.  

But because it forces Democrats to confront the gap between what they preach and how they vote.

This cycle isn’t creating the tension.  

It’s just exposing it.

Is It Now Taboo to Be White, Conservative &.................A DEMOCRAT????

I ask that question due to the recent party switchers here in Georgia & elsewhere in the south of White, Rural Conservative Democrats to the GOP at a very alarming rate.


IS IT BECOMING TABOO TO BE WHITE, CONSERVATIVE, & .....................A DEMOCRAT???




Yesterday, the latest white, rural democrat to defect from the dwindling democratic caucus is State Rep Mike Cheokas (D) Americus. That only leaves 5 white rural democrats in the caucus: Debbie Buckner (Junction City), Carol Fullerton (Albany), Sistie Hudson, (Sparta), Rick Crawford (Cedertown) & Barbara-Massey Reese (Menlo).



Right now in Georgia & in most of the south, it is culturally unacceptable to be a Democrat. It's a shame, but that's the way it is. The setback continues a decade long decline for Democrats in rural Georgia, where they once dominated.



Democrats once used to be those who had their stronghold in the south among white conservatives. Nowadays Blacks, Gays, Urban White Liberals, Rural Progressives heavily support the Democrats.

As the dust settledafter another election year, here is a request to those individuals who place missing persons on milk cartons: could you help us find the real Southern white male democrats?

It is obvious that they are MIA when it comes to local and national politics.

All across GAwhite males that outwardly declare their Democratic pedigree are becoming increasingly scarce. They are constantly put in awkward positions on issues ranging from abortion to tort reform. They are not comfortable touting the party line, as their college buddies and co-workers shift their allegiance whole-heartedly to the Republican agenda.

They are being pressured to switch parties as the Democratic Party is labeled as “the Black people’s party, something I've heard tossed around recently in my neck of the woods. This makes them uncomfortable and when we need them the most they turn up missing.

Prior to the 1940’s, Blacks were loyal to the GOP because it was considered the party of Lincoln, the alleged “Great Emancipator.” The combination of Franklin Roosevelt’s public policies and the deliberate targeted protests, led by grassroots leaders like Fannie Lou Hamer, toward full political access, started the shift for Black Americans toward becoming almost monolithically Democrat.

This shift started to displace those white males who could not adapt to the times & the likes of George Wallace, Lester Maddox & Dick Nixon, who Nixon saw this demographic as a gold mine, sought to aggressively cultivate them. Since then, it has been a fight for Democrats to win the hearts and minds of Southern white males, who now felt at home with the GOP’s subtle agenda.

Under the guise of conservative family values, the Republicans have de-valued the need for hard-fought gains, such as affirmative action (which is sonething I think is no loner needed), and have escalated the level of fear by highlighting wedge issues like crime and religion. When a team needs to change their losing ways, they make adjustments in their personnel and their play calling. If the Democrats want to start winning elections again in Georgia, changes have to be made. Southern white male Democrats need to re-discover their political backbone, plain & simple.

The most realistic strategic objective is to diminish the intensity of white male opposition to the Democratic Party while retaining the support of key minority groups and bolstering suburban gains, especially among white women. To execute this strategy, embracing moderate positions on cultural issues based on mainstream values is a necessity. But for today's Democratic Party, neither cultural conservatism nor an anti-government stance is an option. If that is what it takes to regain full competitiveness among white men, the price is too high.

This is a dangerous time for the Democratic Party here in Georgia

Race to Defeat: Simple Subtraction of Down State Democrats

Once, not so long ago, they roamed in great herds. They controlled the landscape, and the alpha males among them ruled with certainty and swagger. But now, after generations of dominance, they've been reduced to endangered species and their natural enemies have marked them for extinction.

There are 0 White Senate Democrats outside of the Metro Area
There are only 7 White Rural House Democrats left out of 65 Democrats in the house.

Where'd all the white Democrats go?

What's it all mean? I don't know; go ask a wise man. I'm just doing math. But it seems a party's claim to diversity can't be helped when its roster of legislators is increasingly low on one of the state's major demographics : white people!

Do Georgia Democrats have to crank up a white outreach program (maybe at the local Rodeo or Gun Shows)?

Of course they do!

You can't form a party and write off the white vote. That's no way to come back into power!

I see the dwindling white Democratic caucus as further certification that when, and if, Georgia Democrats return to power (or at least relevance) "it's not going to be your granddaddy's Democratic Party. Not only will it be majority minority (mostly Black) it will be "predominantly minority. Any Democratic resurgence could be 10 to 15 years away if Black voter turnout doesn't improve.

Also the lack of highly visible white Democrats hurts the party's effort to lure white folks back into the fold. People do respond best to people that look like them. They feel good about casting a vote for somebody who looks like them, THAT'S THE BOTTOM LINE!

But the main reason democrats are in such dire straits is due to Racial gerrymandering.

Democrats have lost as many seats here in the because of majority black redistricting." Remember when Floyd Griffin forst won a seat to the State Senate from a majority-white district, defeating the incumbent democrat Wilbur Baugh back in 1992.

Those days are long gone..........for now!

But no more. What enabled record numbers of blacks to win election to the House, also planted the seeds for their political disenfranchisement. Congressional redistricting after the 1990 Census saw federal courts and state lawmakers create new majority black districts, mainly by snatching black voters from existing districts and stuffing them into new ones. This essentially guaranteed the election of black Democrats to the new seats, but it also "whitened" neighboring districts and made them more Republican.

Redistricting after the census lifted the number of blacks elected to the General Assembly here in the state. There's no doubt that race-driven redistricting was a windfall to the GOP in Georgia, which helped them make significant gains here in the peach state. The GOP worked in cahoots with civil rights leaders such as State Rep Tyrone Brooks (D-Atlanta) to create majority black districts. The Republican appointees in the Bush administration's Justice Department regularly harassed state reapportionment committees and forced them to set aside special districts for blacks.

These redistricting schemes ultimately stem from the Voting Rights Act, first passed in 1965 to ensure black voters full participation in electoral politics--something they had been denied, especially in the South. But over the past 30 years it has slowly transformed into something quite different: A mechanism that not only guarantees equal access to the ballot box for blacks, but also virtually requires racially proportionate election outcomes. Democrats have aided and abetted this development, essentially underwriting the GOP's cynical exploitation of their politically foolish act. They will now pay for it with years in the wilderness.

A more liberal Democratic Party.............. Blacks now mostly control majority of the seats held by Democrats in the State House & the State Senate. Many of them are on the far-left fringes of the party, while most are just plain liberal. With the exception of a handful, the majority of the black legislators are basically seat warmers, having no influence in debates, legislation, etc.

Without white democrats who are more in the center, tilting toward the reight, the party will have a tough row to hoe if it ever want to really get back in the ballgame anytime soon.