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Posts Tagged ‘Georgia’

Six Points: Stacey Evans or Stacey Abrams for Governor

Posted in politics, tagged , , , on September 14, 2017| 1 Comment »

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We should look at the political situation in Georgia by the numbers…my numbers.  Of course, the two Staceys –Stacey Abrams and Stacey Evans would be the first two numbers and all other numbers are relative to them.

Point #1:  Stacey Abrams is positioned to win the Georgia Democratic primary for Governor because Whites exited the party for the GOP.  Most Georgia Democrats are Black voters but that doesn’t or shouldn’t mean that they would vote for a Black candidate simply because she is highly qualified and looks like them.  Other points and factors need to be taken into consideration…primarily endgame.

Point #2: Stacey Evans stands a better chance of actually winning the general election.  An Abrams victory in November would require turning out Black and progressive voters in historic numbers.  Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton didn’t get the Black numbers Abrams would need to win without a certain percentage of the Non-Atlanta vote.  Ms. Abrams strong statement about sandblasting the Confederate memorial off Stone Mountain means that working class Whites who once voted for Dems as labor union members won’t be voting for her.

Point #3: We have three Georgias.. Metro Atlanta; the five Other Cities (Augusta, Savannah, Macon, Columbus and Albany); and Rural Georgia.  At this point, the battle for Georgia starts to feel like the American Civil War..the classic oxymoron.  In the War Between the States, the North had superior numbers but the South had farm boys that grew up hunting and killing outdoors…better troops.   Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power” opened with a 1967 quote from Thomas “TNT” Todd that stated “Yet our best trained, best educated, best prepared troops refuse to fight! Matter of fact, it’s safe to say that they would rather switch than fight!”

Blacks in the South have the numbers on paper to change everything politically on the local, state and national levels.  For some strange reason, the segment of the community most affected by public policy refuses to vote.  Middle class Blacks are growing weary of fighting political battles for them.  The matter is exacerbated by the opinion that certain Blacks aren’t striving for success…that the hip hop culture has inadvertently perverted the Black American dream.

Point #4: The “Head of the Snake” theory created by this writer is that a snake can be six feet long but without it’s head, the rest can do nothing.  Actually, this idea relative to Blacks comes from Dr. W.E.B. DuBois’ s Talented Tenth.  What would happen to southern Black voting power if the most successful quarter of Black voters functioned as a separate unit?  Of course, we would still care about all southerners of every race but could tip the scales of elections in either major party.

Point #5: Endgame.  The ultimate goal isn’t success for a political party or race.  The goal is forming a more perfect union… a union that started on the corrupt foundation of human bondage.  The more direct endgame is wrestling control of the White House from the scary segment of the Republican Party.  The Public Enemy quote above ended with “they rather switch than fight.” In 1967, Todd was referring to assimilation of Blacks with Whites.  Today, we are at a cultural crossroads..many Blacks are put-off by the criminal element of our race; some Whites are just learning about the meth-loving element of theirs.

At the end of the day, it all comes back to the lyrics from the Police’s song “One World (Not Three).”

“I don’t want to bring a sour note

Remember this before you vote

We can all sink or we all float

‘Cause we’re all in the same big boat.”

Georgia is a big boat and our next generation of leaders needs to be about the business of more jobs, better education, growing the economy and competing in a global market.  A focus and prepared labor force are vital and international businesses want to locate in a place without ongoing historic drama.  How in the world is the head of Germany the leader of the free world rather than the president of the U.S.A.?

Point #6: Post-election Staceys:  The political blogging community thinks Stacey Abrams is destine for national fame—this contest and the governorship are stepping stones.  Some wonder if she could be congresswoman after Rep. John Lewis retires but I think that is small potatoes for her.  Abrams will be the head of the D.N.C., national leader of the Progressive Movement or host her own MSNBC show in the future.  On the other hand, Evans won’t leave Georgia for D.C. because she is a mom.  Remember, members of the General Assembly with children normally seek higher offices in Atlanta because flying home from Congress on the weekend is rough on parenting.  After public office, Evans will likely land in a Georgia based international law firm…balling on the next level.

Point #7: The Elephant In the Room:  Since Georgia is a red state for now, the next Governor might be decided in the GOP primary with little involvement from the Black community.  However, the abovementioned most successful quarter of Black voters could tip the GOP primary to the most reasonable Republican candidate…if there is such a thing.

We need to discuss these points now on the grassroots level.

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Georgia Governor Race and Trump Reelection Now

Posted in politics, tagged , , , , , on August 25, 2017| Leave a Comment »

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While the Trump Movement (Tea Party) is taking over the Republican Party and the liberal Progressives are doing the same to the Democrats, my sensible center of the political spectrum stands idly by.  What is a moderate Blue Dog Democrat to do at this crossroad?

Remember, this time last year, we were saying that Trump could actually win the presidency but it wasn’t as important as supporting high school football in my community.  Some of the players on the field last year are unemployed on the street corners this year while others are serving in the military under a questionable president but our community refuses to take 20 minutes to vote—football halftimes last longer.

Every election is important because local elections are the building blocks to state elections and both are the foundations of federal elections.

To me, it’s all about three R’s: resonance, residual and referendum.   In the Georgia governor’s race, candidates Stacey Abrams and Stacey Evans have maybe six months to create a message and mission that resonates with Georgians—who will catch fire with enough voters to win a general election.   We really need a surge of new voters and/or a riptide of Obama-Trump voters.  Yes, a considerable number of voters were with Obama (labor union members) but bounced on Hillary.  To be honest, getting those blue collar voters back seems more possible than getting grown folks to vote for the first time.

If the Obamas and Clintons couldn’t get you to vote, you can’t be reached and deserve Trump’s peculiar policies, statements and actions.

Elections have residual benefits.  Local elections produce campaign networks that are used in contests for higher offices.  I remember when the Democrats had strong candidates for mayor, city council, county commission, state representatives and state senators.   Candidates for U.S. congressman, U.S. senator and president stood on their shoulders.  Real talk: the Georgia governor’s race is important because it has the residual benefit of driving other elections on the ballot and vice versa; and the 2020 presidential race could come down to the Democrat nominee benefiting from the 2018 Georgia governor race network and field-tested message.

Another form of residual benefit is the fact that candidates for high office who don’t win position themselves well for other endeavors.   What happen to Sarah Palin, Herman Cain and Michelle Nunn? They got crazy paid.  Former Congressman Jack Kingston was defeated in a U.S. Senate race but is on CNN nightly.  Don Lemon recently told Kingston that his profile on-air is his greatest stage for change.   So, some of these candidates for high office have a side eye on Buckhead offices, Georgetown/D.C. firms or a hosting desk on MSNBC.  Can you blame them?

Since he walked onto the national stage, the Republicans have made every election on every level a referendum on Barack Obama.  Well, turnabout is fair play.  A test of any candidate’s soundness could be if Obama or Trump was/is good for America and Georgia.  To me, if you think Trump is a capable leader, you have issues and are in my prayers…as is he.  Remember, local and state officeholders work on issues and problems with Congress and the White House.

Obama is a good man; one of the best in American history.  President Trump functions on the opposite end of the moral spectrum.  Trump is a marketing expert and a master of branding but not suitable for bringing a nation together.  If you are running for dogcatcher in Ty Ty, Georgia, the voters should ask your opinion on Trump because agriculture is the biggest industry in Ty Ty and in Georgia and Trump wants to cut many of the programs at USDA.

The presidential race of 2020 starts with building blocks in 2017 and 2018.  Every political segment should be at the table but the progressives and Trump people seem to have little interest in the sensible center.  Newsflash: the center is larger than those two groups combine and could sway the Republican or Democrat primaries.  The longer term objective of the three R’s mentioned above is having someone other than Trump win the White House in 2020.

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Hillbilly Elegy and My ‘Hood’

Posted in politics, tagged , , , on July 21, 2017| 1 Comment »

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Hillbilly Elegy is a good read for those interested in understanding rural people.  I have always thought words like Hillbilly and Ghetto can only be used as terms of endearment by members of those groups.  Attorney and author J.D. Vance gave us a fascinating look into life in Appalachia.  For me, the parallels to the Black community in rural Georgia are: Hillbilly=Ghetto; Holler=Hood; Hew Haw=Good Times.

We all know rich kids who crumble at the first problem in adulthood but not J.D. from the holler and not the folks from the hood who stayed positive.  Hillbilly Elegy feels like Boyz in the Hood to me.  At the end of that movie Tre and Brandi left south Central Los Angeles for Morehouse College and Spelman College in Atlanta.  They were better prepared for college and corporate America than bougie classmates that grew up with money because they had that “seasoning” J.D. also had.  On a recent episode of OWN’s Queen Sugar, a nice, rich Black teen Micah was arrested for simply driving while Black; he wet himself in the local jail.  Prep school and millions didn’t teach him want we knew.

Of course, we want all children to have safe, nurturing environments.  Surprisingly, the old segregated Black community was striving and culturally rich.  This blog often complains that the inmates are running the asylum today; thugs and thug elements are glamorized over clean living in our community.

Some of my friends are concerned that the Black elite selected as leaders simply aren’t familiar with the struggle of every aspect of Black life.  Once and for all, we are happy that we have generations after generations of Blacks with higher education and wealth.  Those people and liberal Whites from New England aren’t necessarily suited to understand the plight of the hood or the holler (holler is a corruption of hollow as in Sleepy Hollow.)  Every Black person doesn’t have knowledge of  welfare, the penal system and Section 8 housing.

Blacks and Whites who are living right often have disdain for those who can’t or won’t break the cycle of poverty and hopelessness.

Georgia’s most famous Hillbilly might be former Governor and U.S. Senator Zell Miller.  Like J.D. Vance, Miller tested his mettle in boot camp on Paris Island, South Carolina. He wrote a book called “Corps Values” in which he said everything he needed to know about life, he learned in the Marine Corps.  Miller says, “The first thing you do when you find yourself in a hole is stop digging.”

In summary, J.D. Vance’s hard youth seems like Joseph from the Bible who was sold by his brothers into slavery but rose to wealth in Egypt.  Genesis 50:20 “But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.”  When Joseph told Pharaoh there would be seven years of plenty then seven years of famine, the sage advice seem like J.D.’s steelworking Papaw’s wisdom.  The Rust Belt and the South saw many high school graduates earning great wages but felling to spend wisely and save.

Vance’s life from the holler to Yale Law could make him the next Obama; you must buy his book.  He should help answer this question: How much energy and resources should society and the government spend on people who insist on pulling themselves down?   That question looms over the Georgia governor’s race in 2018 and the presidential race of 2020.  What shall become of the hood and the holler?

 

Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of A Family and Culture in Crisis

  1. p. 4 While reality permits some degree of cynicism, the fact that hillbillies like me are more down about the future than many other groups- some of whom are clearly more destitute than we are suggests that something else is going on.
  2. p. 127 As a teacher at my high school told me recently, “They want us to be sheperds to these kids. But no one wants to talk about the fact that many of them are raised by wolves.”
  3. p. 138 Working as a cashier turned me into an amateur sociologist.
  4. p. 139 I could never understand why our lives felt like a struggle while those living off of government largesse enjoyed trinkets that I only dreamed about.
  5. p. 139 At least as often,, our drug-addict neighbor would buy T-bone steaks, which I was too poor to buy for myself but was forced by Uncle Sam to buy for someone else.
  6. p. 140 …it was my first indication that the policies of Mamaw’s “party of the working man” – the Democrats – weren’t all they were cracked up to be.
  7. p. 144 William Julius Wilson’s “The Truly Disadvantaged” : As millions migrated north to factory jobs, the communities sprouted up around those factories were vibrant but fragile: When the factories shut their doors, the people left behind were trapped in towns and cities that could no longer support such large populations with high-quality work. Those who could – generally the well-educated, wealthy, or well connected – left, leaving behind communities of poor people. The same was true of Charles Murray’s seminal Losing Ground, another book about black folks that could have been written about hillbillies – which addressed the way our government encouraged social decay through the welfare state.144 It would be years before I learned that no single book, or expert, or field could explain the problems of hillbillies in modern America. Our elegy is a sociological one, yes, but it is also about psychology and community and culture and faith.
  8. p. 147 We don’t study as children, ands we don’t make our kids study when we’re parents. We might get angry with them, but we never give them the tools – like peace and quiet at home- to succeed. “I don’t care if you got into Notre Dame,” we say, “You can get a fine, cheap education at the community college.” The irony is that for poor people like us, an education at Notre Dame is both cheaper and fine.
  9. p. 150 Consider my life before I moved in with Mamaw. In the middle of the third grade, we left Middletown….’
  10. p. 177 I’m not saying ability doesn’t matter. It certainly helps. But, there’s something powerful about realizing that you’ve undersold yourself- that somehow your mind confused lack of effort for inability.
  11. p. 191 But the president feels like an alien to many Middletonians for reasons that have nothing to do with skin color. Recall that not a single one of my high school classmates attended an Ivy League school. Barrack Obama attended two of them and excelled at both.  Nothing about him bears any resemblance to the people I admired growing up: His accent – clean, perfect, neutral- is foreign; his credentials are so impressive that they’re frightening.
  12. p. 192 With little trust in the press, there’s no check on the Internet conspiracy theories that rule the digital world.
  13. p.193 If you believe that hard work pays off, then you work hard; if you think it’s hard to get ahead even when you try, then why try at all?
  14. p. 194 There is a cultural movement in the White working class to blame problems on society or the government, and that movement gains adherents by the day.
  15. p. 214 Social capital: The network of people and institutions around us have real economic value.
  16. p. 226 Adverse childhood experiences or ACEs are traumatic childhood events, and their consequences reach far into adulthood.
  17. p. 228 By almost any measure, American working-class families experience a level of instability unseen elsewhere in the world.
  18. p. 231 How much of our lives, good and bad, should we credit to our personal decisions, and how much is just the inheritance of our culture, our families, and our parents who have failed their children? How much is Mom’s life her own fault? Where does blame stop and sympathy begin?
  19. p. 242 In places like Utah, Oklahoma, and Massachusetts, the American Dream was doing just fine – as good or better than any place in the world. It was in the South, the Rust Belt, and Appalachia where poor kids really struggled.
  20. p. 244 These programs are far from perfect, but to the degree that I nearly succumbed to my worst decisions (and I came quite close), the fault lies almost entirely with factors outside the government’s control.
  21. p. 245 But, it was there, and studies now show that working-class boys like me do much worse in school because they view schoolwork as a feminine endeavor.
  22. p. 254 People like Brian and me don’t lose contact with our parents because we don’t care; we lose contact with them to survive. We never stop loving, and we never lost hope that our loved ones will change. Rather, we are forced, either by wisdom or by the law, to take the path of self-preservation.

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Scriptures and Southern sayings

Posted in politics, tagged , , , on July 9, 2017| Leave a Comment »

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Scriptures and southern sayings do more for you than the government.  The roles of the federal and state governments need to be reexamined during this non-election year.   My idea is that the best life doesn’t depend on what governmental officials do and we need to hear some of them say that.

Free Milk and a Cow: The Georgia Satellites use this saying as the central theme in their hit “Keep Your Hands to Yourself.”  Beyoncé sang something similar in “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It.)”  Grandmothers once taught girls to hold “the cookie” hostage until a young gentleman (literally a gentle man) presented a long term, whole life package that included caring for future children.  America will always provide a little temporary food assistance to needy families but the government is not now nor should it be your baby’s daddy for 18 years.

2 Thessalonians 3:10-15: Paul broke that thing down in this letter.  “For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.  For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all but are busybodies.  Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work and eat their own bread.  But ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing.

And if any man obeys not our word by this epistle, note that man and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed. Yet, could him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.

Society wants to help the needy but how do we have young parents who are too cool to flip burgers and toss watermelons.  But, you love your kids so much.  Hogwash.  We grew up with parents who had a job and a side job.  Paul’s “Disorderly” would be current thugs but Democrats shouldn’t consider them as the enemy…just brothers who never learned the right way.

Give a man a fish and he eats for a day, teach him to fish and he eats for a lifetime: You help those who help themselves.  Unfortunately, we have a large number of half-raised people in this country.  Georgia Governor Nathan Deal was surprised to discover the amount of money our state spends on corrections.  I love calling the prison system “corrections” because that is what it is.  If a fraction of that money could have been spent on better college, technical schools and K-12, we would need less funding for corrections and have fewer crime victims.

Know who you are and whose you are: Back in the day, our community had pride.  You represented yourself, your family, your community, your race and your church in everything you did.  In his first book, Secretary Colin Powell wrote that we need to bring the concept of shame back in America and I agree.  If your kids are hungry but you won’t pick tomatoes as a job, you should be ashamed.  If that same person plays Xbox all day, he should be ashamed.  If you sell dope on the corner which poisons the community and creates a violent illegal commerce, shame on you.

Look, the American way should be an equal opportunity at success for everyone..a fair shot. If you blow off your shot with your actions (playing in school, disrespecting your family, being lazy), you are messing up an opportunity slaves and sharecroppers would have died to have.

They did die to have the right to vote but too many people in our community blow off voting.  Wait a second..the same young people getting temporary assistance don’t vote. Amazing.  The Trump Presidency is reality and  his plan is simple: Reduce government assistance to needy people, they can do the work currently done by illegals…the work Americans won’t do.

Black Lives Matter: Okay, I always thought this movement should have been Black Lives Matter Also but what do I know.  It’s not saying that other lives don’t matter..they do.  As a southern moderate, I find the progressive movement to be a little aggressive with the whole “what government did and what corporate America did” thing.  But, I was hyped to see a You Tube video say Black Lives should matter to Black people.

 

Yes, sir..there it is right there.  Jesus said one of the two greatest commandments was love your neighbor as yourself but you don’t love yourself.   If we took care of our community, the government would be secondary…”defend the borders and deliver the mail” is one more southern saying.

Oh, liberals don’t want to read this blog’s year-long treatise the Best Interests Initiative.

https://bestinterestsinitiative.wordpress.com/long-term-bii/

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Georgia’s Democrat Future: Jon Ossoff and/or Moderates

Posted in politics, tagged , , , on April 21, 2017| Leave a Comment »

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The Democrats’ future in Georgia and the South centers on building a coalition that energizes everyone.  While the congressional runoff in Georgia’s 6th district is important, a portion of those millions should be directed to cultivating congressional districts with more Democrats—the 8th, 10th and 12th.

Jon Ossoff is the future of the party in suburban Atlanta and we all wish him well.  But, we shouldn’t forget that every area south of I-20 could flip from red to blue in local, state, and federal elections if the Dems could market to our community as well as Trump and the Tea Party hits his base.

Hillary Clinton won the two coasts but left too much on the table in the rest of the nation.  It was like picking peaches in Fort Valley, Georgia, by only getting the low hanging fruit…hell, reach down and get the fallen fruit (infrequent Dem voters) rather than reaching for fruit at the top of the tree (former Dixiecrat voters.)

We need a voter education project with some teeth.  The community should be hit hard with cold, hard facts—take off the kid gloves.  It shouldn’t be on Ossoff’s young shoulders alone and it shouldn’t have been on Hillary’s alone.  Dumb Dumbs, you don’t ask people to vote for someone..you asked them to vote for themselves by supporting these candidates.

The sleeping giant has always been regular folks helped by Democrats’ efforts.  The same regular folks that don’t bother voting… say what?  Oh, the youth are too cool to vote.  You know what else is cool: being drafted to fight in North Korea because Kim and Trump are trying to one up each other.  Why are you on public assistance but won’t vote?  Oh, we need to have a heart to heart in my community.

These young parents are about to see the crafty re-segregation of the public school systems but they only come on campus for sporting events…we need to talk.

Finally, the moderate wing of the Democrat Party needs to take our seat at the table, the old Clinton/Gore Blue Dogs.  See, the new progressive movement fails to acknowledge the moderate to conservative Blacks in the rural South.  We are talking about Blacks who are clean-cut, work the same jobs for years, served in the military and active in church.

The liberals in the national DNC seem more interested in the roughest element of the community.  Look here, many of those people chose that rough life.  Frederick Douglass said it is easier to build strong children than repair broken men.  The thug/street life glamorized by hip hop is negatively impacting our community more than the Klan.  Yea, we really need to talk about what we can do to help ourselves without governmental involvement.

Let’s get the old band back together.  With a few dollars (50k), the moderate movement in the Dem Party could dust off the Blue Dog ideals in 20 rural areas in Georgia.  The platform should be created now while the nation is eager to fund Trump-push back operations; let’s field test concepts and methods.  If something hot emerges, it could be used everywhere.

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“Dead, See Trolls”: Rural Politics post-Obama and pre-Trump

Posted in African Americans, politics, tagged , , , , , on January 17, 2017| Leave a Comment »

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Blogging can be a huge waste of time if nobody reads your stuff.  It’s the modern version of the adage in my community that goes “If you want to hide something from a “blank” put it in a book.”  After I have moved on to selling aluminum roofing in Thomasville, someone might discover these 700 some odd blog post like the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Bedouin shepherds discovered the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1946 in a cave in the current troubled West Bank area between Israel and Jordan.  People read blogs that include funny hooks so consider Damon Wayans knowledge deep prisoner character Oswald Bates from In Living Color.  “So, my dear brother, the Dead Sea Scrolls were like some missing extra parts of religious text found…follow this…between Is Real because we need what is real and Jordan because our community spends too much money on Jordan sneakers that don’t take us anywhere but to the poor house.”

President-Elect Trump entering the White House was foretold by some of us in and around the political arena for decades but nobody would listen.  To me, it started when public policy stop being designed by political scientists and the people and became crafted by Madison Avenue marketing experts.  Dr. Frank Luntz has a PhD in polly sci from Penn but he is the consultant/pollster who created the art of running focus groups to gauge the public and designing a few talking points that hit like bullet points.  In the 90s, he was the mastermind Newt Gingrich use to create the Contract With America.

Project Logic GA as a blog is like the Dead Sea Scrolls but rather than putting flashdrives in Mason jars and placing them in Georgia red clay next to the Flint River, these smart ideas might die in cyberspace with the plans of Michael Steele, Jon Huntsman, and Elizabeth Warren.  In those cyber Mason jars, scholars might one day find the “Dead, See Trolls.”

The Dem Party is dead…trolls, see what your mistakes have done.

Yes, there are those who sought hard to save this republic with logic and positive developments.  Public policy should start with helping the people understand the limited role of government in their lives—balance to between compassion for the needy and a desire to end poverty.  On his best days, Speaker Newt Gingrich would explain that America should be the land of equal opportunity for all…with emphasis being placed on opportunity.  If every kid has a fair shot at success, we have it right.  However, if said kid squanders those opportunities by not focusing on development, being lazy or committing crimes, he gets to live in the reality he created. We are usually our own worst enemies.

Mr. Trump becoming president started when campaign experts learn to tell the people what they wanted to hear rather than what they needed to hear.  Republicans wanted to hear in the 1990s that they were the chosen ruling class who could make decisions affecting everyone without input from anyone else. For example, the 1990s Crime Bill cost billions but crime kept growing—who got paid, their friends who owned prisons.  Since LBJ’s effort to end poverty the Democrats wanted to be the party that poured more money into efforts to help the needy.  However, some of that money should have been spent encouraging the future generations to not be “the needy.”

It’s rough when a kid never had a chance because plans for success never came their way.  Actually, the life portrayed by the Cosby Show did so much for some in my generation and the Obamas in real life have done the same.  Oh, the post White House Obamas will be so very beneficial because they can say what they really want to say to my community….hint: moderation is the key.

Could the current toxic political climate have been avoided?  Of course, you should read the “Dead, See Trolls” because reasonable people like me begged to be at the table.  Moderates can communicate with the Left and the Right and over the last two decades it was often Republican friends who saw the importance of crafting a new southern moderate movement.  The elbow-throwing Tea Party put an end to that goodwill.  The southern Democrat Party is a mess because urban liberals in Atlanta want to push a progressive agenda that doesn’t cotton well with rural conservative Blacks…we can’t win elections in cities alone…ask Hillary about that.

We  tried to tell those latte-sipping liberals from Buckhead that the D.C.-designed Democrat platform was almost as alien to us as the vitriol spewed by those who hijacked the Republican Party. But, those of us who drink sweet tea and occasionally coldbeer from Mason jars in the rural Black community were ignored in November 2016…and that’s after we saved Hillary from Bernie Sanders in the primary.  A rising rural star on the national stage is Rep. Tim Ryan from Youngstown, Ohio.  This guy says the Democrats need people who shower before work and people who shower after work.  I love it.

A troll is a mythical, cave dwelling being having an ugly appearance.  I hope the trolls in the Democratic Party find these Mason jars filled with ideas because their team is dead, see.  I tried to tell them that Trump was a marketing genius who was simply playing dead to win the election.  I spent a year writing/crafting a “Contract With America-like” moderate action plan called the Best Interest Initiative.

The B.I.I. is all about what our community can do to help ourselves with limited government involvement.  Remember, candidate Obama always said that the government often isn’t the answer…often it’s you.  The B.I.I. is based on JFK’s statement “ask not what this country can do for you…ask what you can do for this country.”  What you can do is start being a better you…stop being a knucklehead.  Yes, I said knucklehead.  We talk like that inside my community; we say that with love to those who would destroy our area for some money.

The trolls who run the Democratic Party spent a billion dollars on t.v. ads but rarely sought the existing networks of influence in our community.  In other words, the rich boys got their friends richer but never hit the barbers and funeral home directors.  The trolls thought they had the community because the preachers got white envelopes with Get Out The Vote Cash.  Newsflash, church folks vote anyway—that’s preaching to the choir.  The barbers, coaches and those “pay party tossing” kids are the ones who can move the crowd.

When Trump won that election, the Democrats and Republicans lost the White House because neither wanted him.  The Black community has the numbers to sway most elections in the South.  My friends and I mentioned a plan to Democrats to cultivate the Obamacrats outside Georgia’s biggest cities and they blew it off…the same likely happened in North Carolina, Florida and across the Rust Belt.

Oh, Trump was out there in the sticks.  He told them what they wanted to hear—if he can or should deliver that stuff is another subject.  The Dems trolls should learn from Trump that policy should be bottom up and not top down…it’s called grassroots.

To be honest, I am backing away from constantly watching CNN’s political coverage.  We should spend the next few years listening to the people and teaching cultural moderation to the kids.  A better DNC needs to emerge from the ashes because ignoring rural southerners will get us ghost.

I wanted to put some of my favorite blog posts in this cyber Mason jar for the trolls to find.  If they wanted to talk now, I will be waiting on my front porch with sweet tea…bring white envelopes.

https://bestinterestsinitiative.wordpress.com/

https://projectlogicga.com/2009/12/10/cease-corps/

https://projectlogicga.com/2016/07/27/southside-of-the-tracks-us-vs-them/

https://projectlogicga.com/2016/12/19/southern-rural-democrats-astroturf-vs-sod-grassroots/

https://projectlogicga.com/2016/11/21/ongoing-civil-wars-failure-to-communicatea-new-great-triumvirate/

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Town Hall “Party With A Purpose”: Hear from Everyone

Posted in politics, tagged , , , , , , , on September 27, 2016| 1 Comment »

grown

We can disagree without being disagreeable.  I swear my friends are all over the place politically and culturally; life would be boring otherwise.  It is wise to listen to everyone (even if you know they are dead wrong, lying or trying the wreak havoc.

During the Civil Rights Movement, Atlanta was proud to be the city to busy doing business to hate.  It’s my understanding that BMW didn’t want to locate a plant in the Savannah area because they were concerned with racial drama among the workforce.  While some are acting silly, others are addressing issues as part of a reasonable community and moving forward financially.

Atlanta is the best Black city in the world and Georgia is the best Black state in the union.  We should manufacture everything here and ship it all to the world on the interstate system and the Port of Savannah.  Of course, industrial attraction starts with a quality schools and livable communities.  Those who like to “wreak havoc” recreationally are killing the golden goose.

If I had a little funding, my blog would host ten or so Town Hall meetups around south Georgia—like a good old fashion political stump.  We should create events so all sides can make their points to someone other than those like them, the proverbial preaching to the choir.  In modern times, the political stump presentation is beamed around the world instantly with social media.

The key effort here is to get people voting and speaking up.  If you don’t vote, decisions don’t reflect a cross-section of the community.  Personally, I am a moderate Democrat who doesn’t care for the Opportunity School Board Amendment or the Republican candidate for president.  However, I would have a coke and slice of pizza with my friends who feel differently just to fairly hear them out.  Actually, you formulate better responses to them when you hear them and at the end of the day, that respectful dialog is what grown folks do.

Now, to get 50 or so trendsetter members of a community into a venue, the “party with a purpose” approach is cool with me.  We could pick a café and pack the place with people leaving a high school football game.  It would take much to identify a local host or two that everyone follows to the hippest functions…and it’s free too.  Finally, we would be creating a network of people linked by social media.

Will this find funding in a few weeks?  It would take the right supporters but it’s better than pouring money into those same old, same old T.V. ads.

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Trump, Clinton, Kaepernick and Condoleezza: A More Perfect Union

Posted in politics, tagged , , , , , , on September 14, 2016| Leave a Comment »

It’s not about Trump or Clinton at the end of the day.  It’s about you…me…us.  Those two rich people will be just fine.  Americans need to decide what they want from our government relative to what our government can or should provide.

As strange as it may sound, my community might improve after having Trump in the White House because every family will officially know that the government is operated by people who won’t be doing much for you.  We all know parents who did so much for their kids that the children grew up soft and dependent—give me, give me, give me.  On the other hand, other kids come from families who struggled to put food on the table.  These kids started grinding the second they became adults and never looked back.

The fundamental question about the government safety net programs is this: is it fair to tax those hard working Americans to help those who are too “cute” to do entry level work.  So, you are too cool to pick fruit or flip burgers but you have no problem having other people feed your little kids.

At the end of the day, improving your life starts with you…not Trump or Clinton.  My friends come from across the political spectrum.  We must work together to write the next chapter in American history.  America isn’t perfect…the only perfect anything ever on this earth was Jesus in my opinion. But, we still strive to “form a more perfect union.”  This nation was constructed on a shaky foundation because all men here were not created equally.

I will always love my southern homegirl Dr. Condoleezza Rice.  Dr. Rice rightfully said that racism is America’s birth defect.  Oh, that “blank” was deep.  So, quarterback Colin Kaepernick started a national debate that should help some people understand that something to you might be something completely different to others.  At the same time, the glorification of crime and guns in some hip hop hurts my community more than the current Klan…real talk.

Let’s do this before the election: we should have a cool forum series around a conference table on what we should do in the Black community moving forward.  Clinton and Trump will spend billions getting at each other but see if my friends and I can fund this project.

http://www.clutchmagonline.com/2011/12/condi-rice-racism-is-a-birth-defect-we-will-never-be-free-of-do-you-agree/

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Hillary Wins Georgia If the Grassroots Are Real…Fingers Crossed

Posted in politics, tagged , , , , , , on August 23, 2016| 2 Comments »

grass

Black grassroots

In Georgia, the Democrats don’t seem to care about Democrats outside the cities…Atlanta, Augusta, Albany, Macon, Columbus and Savannah.  No candidate can win Georgia statewide without cultivating some rural areas—keep it close in the country and go over the top in the cities.

However, the Dem elite in D.C. and Atlanta only see metro Atlanta as the big prize.  Then, these geniuses meager efforts outside Atlanta consist of running radio ads produced in Atlanta.  If not for the far Right being nutty, the GOP could have capitalized on Dems ignoring rural southerners.  They want statewide candidates who can self-fund so their fancy Buckhead cohorts can get paid consulting fees and media buy fees.

The area from Warner Robins to Thomasville to Brunswick to Statesboro produced some nice numbers for Obama twice but there is little buzz here now…no fire.  If Hillary Clinton wants to win Georgia and if someone else wants to be a Democrat Governor or Senator, it starts with not ignoring big sections of the state this year.  My friends and I are never called but we have been in the middle of the grassroots mix for years.  A recent Washington Post article states that Atlanta again would be the target of Dem campaign monies.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/clinton-campaign-to-devote-more-money-workers-to-arizona-georgia/2016/08/09/46150062-5e2e-11e6-8e45-477372e89d78_story.html

 

The question becomes this: how long will southern rural moderate Democrats be ignored before we start exploring other options.  Hey, if Dems can’t win in my region, shouldn’t I consider the less crazy of GOP candidates during primaries.  Why do you think this Democrat voted in the Republican GOP primary for John Kasich….to avoid this: President Trump.  If all of Georgia and the nation doesn’t vote, the President Trump nightmare might become reality.

If not for Blacks in the South, Bernie Sanders would be the Democrat nominee.  Donald P. Trump might still be president because his side is about to release two months of hell on Hillary Clinton.  Some of that mud could turn off Clinton Dust Belt voters but southern Blacks will be down with the Clintons and Obamas.  However, we don’t need a zillion dollars in T.V. ads…half a zillion will do.  The other half zillion needs to be used in good old Get Out The Vote with a social media twist….party with a purpose.

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Thank you Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed: Don’t Support Candidates Who Support Trump

Posted in politics, tagged , , , , on August 16, 2016| 1 Comment »

kasim

Mayor Kasim Reed

Is it inappropriate to ask a mayoral candidate who he supports for governor or president?  If it is, I humbly apologize to my mayor because I did just that.  See, local officials are the foundation of state candidates and state candidates are the same to presidential, senatorial and congressional candidates.

Of course, smart local officials dance around those questions because voters might like them but hate presidential candidates.  On the other hand, mayors and city council members seek federally funded and state administered funding.  While those grants are supposed to be merit-base, friends or foes in certain places could be “huge.”

Everyone knows the Democrats in Georgia are being too nice in the arena; they love to make nice with the other side.  But, how many times will the other side play hard ball before we start throwing some elbows also.

Atlanta mayor Kasim Reed has good elbows and he is dumbfounded by Democrats supporting GOP Senator Johnny Isakson.  While Isakson is the coolest Republican since Saxby Chambliss left, he can’t be that cool to support Donald Trump.  Every member of the Senate and most of the House are more presidential material than Trump but party members feel compelled to back him.  Then, the weak Democrats allow major party figures the option of supporting Isakson.  From middle school algebra, we remember “a=b and b=c then a=c.”  In other words, birds of a feather flock together.

http://politics.blog.ajc.com/2016/08/15/kasim-reed-rips-into-georgia-republicans-who-fail-to-denounce-donald-trump/

No sir, you’ll aren’t going to scapegoat Donald Trump after the elections.  Edmund Burke said, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” Trump drives out huge numbers while driving away huge numbers.  We know some sneaky Americans have a reputation of using people then wondering why they are around..i.e. slavery.

Thomas Jefferson was one of the smartest Americans but when ask about slavery he said it was like having a tiger by the tail.  I think he knew that slaves were people but he liked staying paid.

My conservative friends are generally decent people but their party will try to win by any means necessary.  That “win at all cost” mentality started when Donald Trump was still a Democrat.  No, no, no, Trump isn’t Hitler but his use of nonsense propaganda to whip the people into a rage or a frenzy is rather Nazi-like.

Then after one of the ugliest periods in human history, the German people tried to act like they didn’t know what Hitler was doing.  B.S.

The GOP has already started to distance themselves from Trump but not so fast.  We will remember who supported this farce candidacy when you run in the future and as the demographics of our state change.  While a Republican might still get an office, it might be GOPers who closer to the center and away from the far Right people who selected Trump over much better candidates.

Because Trump used fire to win the nomination, Democrats should use nice fire to get the base out and that doesn’t start with our so-called leaders siding with candidates who side with Trump.  Hillary Clinton’s official campaign, the DNC and the state Democratic Party are too nice to get at them on an Art of War style but we can get it done and win the state.

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Georgia Dems Need Unity To Stop B.S. Artist Trump

Posted in politics, tagged , , , , , on August 9, 2016| 1 Comment »

kramer_cosmo

Where is the fire and energy the Democrats need to win in November in Georgia?  From an organizational standpoint, Georgia Democrats aren’t there for Hillary or Obama.  Rep. David Scott decides to endorse Senator Johnny Isakson while former Senator Sam Nunn and former Governor Roy Barnes are giving money to the senior senator.

I have voted for Senator Isakson in the past but he doesn’t get this Dems vote after getting behind Donald Trump for president.  With some party unity, Jim Barksdale could beat Isakson and help the Dems take the Senate back.

Trump didn’t create the nasty environment on the far Right; that ugliness has been brewing for decades.  He just decided to become the leader of it because he is the quintessential B.S. artist.  CNN Fareed Zakaria explained Trump’s B.S. skills recently.

We should acknowledge the conservatives that put country over party by saying they wouldn’t vote to make Trump leader of the free world.  Jeb Bush said from the beginning that he wouldn’t get in the mud to win the nomination and you see where he is now.  Trump called him “low energy Jeb” but that was actually presidential coolness.

Birds of a feather flock together.  If you insist on riding with Trump, you consign his B.S.  Like it or not, your party has been high-jacked by radicals.  Yes, we are looking at the radicalization of the far Right just like segments of Islam is radicalized as well as segments of Christianity.  While we can have strong beliefs, Trump is fueling a movement that views America as a country belonging to certain people for certain reasons—they stole it from the Indians fair and square.  Talk radio and Fox News produce the best hateful rhetoric.

But, Democrats sit around trying to be nice and begging those former Dixiecrats to come back.  We remember when the radicalized Tea Party tried to get Rep. Sanford Bishop out of office.  The same rural folks Bishop had tirelessly served for years sat idly as ugliness and con artist silliness was hurled.  Check this: your friends don’t stand around while B.S. like this is happening.  But, the Georgia Democrat leadership blow it off and want to make nice.

Donald Trump was the leader of that birther B.S.  He came for the most elegant American since JFK and POTUS still weathered the storm.  Hell, I have a million reasons to vote for Hillary Clinton, the most qualified presidential candidate ever, but I could vote for her as a protest against Trump or as a thank you to Obama.

Trump is a B.S. expert like a professional wrestler or Kramer on Seinfeld. But, he could easily B.S. his way into the White House if everyone doesn’t vote.  Reasonable Republicans denounce his candidacy but those who don’t should have their fitness questioned.  To be fair, I question the Far Left’s “give everyone everything for free” mentality as much as I question the Far Right.

What shall we do to stop Trump?  With secondary regard to the too nice Georgia Democrat leadership, we need to rally the Obama base with hot fire and pure energy. Oh yea, shall we mention that the Democrat leadership are the same people who select and support statewide candidates who can raise millions for T.V. ads.  While ads buys are essential, my community likes good ole Get Out the Vote rallies…perhaps driven my social media.  Campaigns don’t hit your mailbox today because they hit your email box.

Finally, all of Georgia doesn’t live in metro Atlanta.  Sanford Bishop came to Washington after helping Bill Clinton win Georgia.  One of the crowning jewels of his service would be helping Hillary Clinton win Georgia by turning out Columbus, Macon and Albany.  We consider him the leader of Georgia Democrats outside Atlanta so he should also help in areas without much Democrat leadership.

Because the stakes are so high, we really need a grassroots effort to get out all of the Obama voters.  This effort needs to be bold and edgy because we must fight fire with fire.  The Democrat voters need to know what cards Trump played from the bottom of the deck to win the GOP nom. The guy is a good business man but simply not presidential material.

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Must Vote Total Ballot: Local, State and Federal

Posted in politics, tagged , , , , , on August 3, 2016| Leave a Comment »

I am blown away by people who don’t vote.  My friends tell me to be nice but forget that.  You can sit in the cold to watch high school football but not vote.  You can play Call of Duty the video game but not vote for or against the guys who decide when, where and how long real troops serve.

Let me, oh let me mention Gore vs. Bush.  So, the Democrats on Capitol Hill helped President Bill Clinton put the nation in good shape but the working people Dems fight for fail to vote.  Al Gore falls to George Bush by a margin that could be one south Florida housing project.  Oh, the conservatives would say how dare you give short-term public assistance to poor people who refuse to pick these citrus crops and maybe they have a point but vote and let your concerns be heard.  Some say the farm workers’ wages are too low…then vote.  Hey, you can protest on the streets but voting and attending city council and school board meetings get stuff changed legally.

Why Vote:

Obama Legacy: If you appreciate the service of President Obama and how First Lady Michelle Obama carries herself, vote to stop Trump from moving into the White House and reversing everything on day one. As President Obama said recently, Hillary Clinton would be the most qualified person to enter the Oval but you know how it is for women in a man’s world. She will put her personal style of diplomacy on the office and that style is similar to Clinton and Obama.

Healthcare: Trump can’t wait to dismantle Obamacare on the federal level but don’t sleep on the governors like Deal in Georgia who won’t expand Medicaid for all. The insured use the emergency room as a doctor’s office and at that point the illness is costly. If everyone had a minimum level of healthcare coverage, early detection of health problems could save trillions but that would be too much like right. Prevention and wellness would be even better; the doctor tells you to get that weight down and if you don’t, you dug your own grave.  You can’t save people from themselves. Politicians get campaign donations from hospital, drug and insurance lobbyists so maybe it’s true that they want people to remain sick. Vote!

National Defense: Have mercy, are we going to let hothead Trump have the nuclear codes? Everyone has friends and family who joined the military to serve and because the uniform has job security. They see the world, stay paid and learn valuable leadership skills. We should watch who is in the White House and Congress because our best and brightest shouldn’t die because leaders want to act macho.  If the bombing starts, leaders are in that famous “undisclosed location” while my cousin is on the front line.  We must vote if we carry about the troops and their families.

We know big business makes billions when America goes to war; some people think corporate interest want war so they can supply the troops.  Big business does business in a nasty way around the world and when the people get weary of their leaders allowing this exploitation, Wall Street wants the Pentagon to get the situation back to normal.  Our interest in the Middle East is rooted in our thirst for oil.  The next president should have a comprehensive plan to make us energy smarter while being more respectful on the global stage….that John Wayne cowboy stuff doesn’t work anymore.

Jobs/Wages: My hourly wage from UPS in 1983 is still a desired wage today but the cost of everything has gone up. Trump-type CEOs are only interested in the bottom line profits. Mr. Trump rightfully says we don’t make anything in America anymore…and he should know because he is a major exporter of jobs.  Young people must keep their bills low as they train for high tech careers in the new global economy.  Today’s jobs require fewer people so we must elect leaders who create the proper climate for industrial attraction.  The future workers must be sober, focus and attentive because the developing world is enthusiastic about doing better and taking out our position on top.  America IS great today but we must work hard and smart to keep it that way.

Schools: We must elect local, state and federal officeholders who are committed to a good education for all kids. To be honest, the conservatives seem more interested in providing vouchers so their kids can get into private schools or homeschools…just get them away from poor folks. Georgia has a constitutional amendment on the ballot this year that seems to improve underperforming schools but the real purpose is to close or privatize those schools.  You see what they do when you don’t vote.

Better schools start with involved parents who speak proper English 24/7, require reading, reduce T.V. and video games, attend teacher conferences, check homework and vote.

The effort to privatize public schools is an attack on the teaching profession; teaching and the military has traditionally been an opportunity for families to move into the middle class.  The next generation of teachers will also serves as role models and cheerleaders for kids.  We should elect leaders who recognize this reality.

Crime/Freedom: The elected City Council selects a city manager who often selects the police chief who sets the police mentality. The police have always been my friends and if I am wrong, I am wrong.  But, I don’t need police who seem to be overseers of the public. President Bill Clinton got Congress to pass a Crime Bill that included an emphasis on community policing—get out of the car, get to know the people, connect with the youth, honor the seniors and people will appreciate enforcement when it happens.

My community is too busy playing Grand Theft Auto to vote; therefore, real GTA is happening on the streets.  Yes, friends quietly mention that we are killing each other more than the police are killing us.  We must vote for elected officials with compassion; leaders who rightfully encourage all citizens to be cool when dealing with the police and insist that the officers do the same.  Prison is like modern day slavery so all Americans should avoid those places.  State representatives and senators spent decades with that “lock ‘em and toss the key” mindset before realizing that corrections cost more than college.

While we were voting state officials created junk laws and policies like “stop and frisk” in New York and “stand your ground” in the South.  In high crime areas, the police frisk random people but you don’t need to frisk me in Harlem if a crime hasn’t been committed by someone who looks like me.

How, how, how did we let those fools pass Stand Your Ground.  Let me understand this mess: if I feel like I am in danger (not real danger, just I feel endanger) I can start shooting rather than walking away. It’s the cowboy mentality and mind you, I think all of those hip hop youth are dangerous thugs.  Stand Your Ground is open season on people who don’t look like you. i.e. college students in timberland boots, White guys with tattoos. Wow.

 

Six reasons to vote but check this: the last six times I voted early, it didn’t take 10 minutes.  A football halftime show last longer but this isn’t a game…the stakes are too high.  Washington and Atlanta officials whisper that poor people don’t vote and stats say they are right.  I say we all should vote in every election for every ballot item.

Finally, there is something to be said about association.  The conservatives who openly denounce the farce candidacy of Donald Trump should be commended.  The same can be said about the vast majority of Muslims who abhor terrorism and regular citizens who would never advocate gun attacks on the police. Reasonable people who are quietly standing around as the GOP is being hijacked by far right zealots should be ashamed.  It wasn’t the Klan doing all the nasty stuff during Jim Crow.  State, local and federal elected officials were doing the same things because we weren’t allowed to vote.  Vote or we are going back to the future.  In the spring, Trump said he was going to “act” presidential after the primary.  After winning the White House, I think he would act like himself…like a dangerous tyrant.

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Trojan Horse: Vote No on Opportunity School District Constitutional Amendment

Posted in politics, tagged , , , , , on June 30, 2016| 3 Comments »

trojan-horse-in-troy-city

The November election in Georgia is important because the Governor is trying to slip an education Trojan horse into every school system.   The Opportunity School District constitutional amendment sounds harmless or helpful: “Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended to allow the state to intervene in chronically failing public schools in order to improve student performance?”

Intervene.  Intervene how?  The Governor’s Office, not the state department of education, would take over certain schools with the option to declare them charter schools and privatize these schools.  “Oh, you went to a school so bad that the state took it over…what a stigma…do you know what stigma means?”

First, my concerns aren’t about Democrats and Republicans.  When Governor Deal was a congressman from the northern section of Georgia, he did a fine job representing the people of that region.  However, Georgia is a big and diverse state with different regions.  Muhammed Ali once said that the problem with Atlanta is that it is surrounded by Georgia.  Come on, champ, some of us prefer the rest of Georgia.

My point is that the conservative region above Atlanta doesn’t understand that schools fail for various reasons and only bloggers will admit that the primary reasons might be home life—little Johnny can’t focus at school if home is rough.  Of course, we all want kids to be ready to learn, focused and prepared to concentrate like we were…and we were because we grew up focusing from the front pew of church.

Wait a second, my conservative friends have been fighting against federal or state control of local governmental matters for 40 years.  Generally, they would hate a state officer telling them what to do with their local schools.

History

Some ultra conservatives have been trying to resegregate schools since Brown vs. the Board of Education.  Paying property taxes to fund a school full of kids whose parents don’t pay property taxes burns them up.  The situation is exacerbated by the notion that “those kids” at times are the discipline problems that make the public schools unacceptable.  So, Mr. Property Owner must go deeper into his pockets to pay for private school.  For the record, everyone should cheer for the academic success of every child because you want to have an intelligent labor force to attract well-paying industries.  If you don’t pay for school, you will pay in time in prison cost…Georgia State University or Georgia State Penitentiary.

Ultimate Real Deal

The Opportunity School District is a Trojan horse that would open the door to privatizing public schools and taking control of schools from local leaders and citizens.  I bet you will find some corporations that run schools at the center of this idea.  Remember, they tried the same thing with privatizing prisons—built the prisons and they got rich off mass incarceration.  Orange is the New Black is based on facts.

This deal is even cuter. This plan goes down like this: Rather than cherry-picking the best students and putting them into charter schools or magnet schools, you open the door to cherry-picking the worst schools or students, turn them over to private companies and the remaining students will be better off.

Yes, something must be done about under-preforming schools and the effort will require an honest analysis of all factors…including students, parents and environment.  But, the governor’s office taking over schools is not the answer.

Hillary Clinton Smiling

You know that Democrat voters in Georgia are experiencing an enthusiasm problem.  They aren’t necessarily hyped about voting for president because the national media keeps saying that Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida are the only swing states this side of the Mississippi River.  Clinton will win those states and with the help of Republicans running from Donald Trump, Georgia and North Carolina are on the toss-up list.

Clinton should be smiling because this crazy Opportunity School Board mess would light a fire under unlikely registered voters.  If presented to the people correctly, OSB could be a game changer.  Wait, it gets better.  Real money is flowing around the state to stop this ill-conceived amendment.  Traditionally, Dems raise money in Atlanta to spend in say Florida but this year, Hillary and maybe the U.S. Senate candidate Jim Barksdale might win by riding the coattails of the anti-Opportunity  School Board movement.

Bloggers are ready to stop OSB with rallies, cookouts, tailgates, receptions and radio spots.  Georgia Dems can be elitists at times—elbowing each other for glory.  We don’t have time for that crap this time because the stakes are too high…what’s in the balance is the future of our kids.  We won’t let them recreate a second class school system based on race, region, or income. I think they want rural school systems to have a city kids school and county kids school but that is really county kids getting new schools and town kids keeping the old, current schools.

Plan

The plan to stop OSB centers on early voting and educating voters about voting the total ballot.  President Obama recently said at Howard University’s graduation that he would have had a different congress if voters who voted for him would have voted for congress and other ballot items. We must get the word out and it needs to come from trusted members of the community…like me.  They need to put that money on the street…old school style, Maze and Motown playing at rallies, family reunion style.  Oh, I would put a Trojan horse with OSB on him on 3,000 t-shirts in one month.

Citizens should consider their use of time in support of the communities’ youth.  So, you can sit in a high school football game for three hours to support the players, cheerleaders and band but you won’t take 10 minutes to early vote for good candidates and against junk like OSB.  You use your smartphone to play Angry Birds but won’t get angry about conservative politicians trying to quietly take over our schools; we are talking about the same conservatives who constantly called for the end of the state and federal departments of education.  As projectlogicaga.com’s Best Interest Initiative states, everyone has an agenda.

My agenda is to use social media to mobilize and energize every voter this year.

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2016 Rural Georgia Voters Guide: Consider Yourselves Told

Posted in politics, tagged , , , , on February 10, 2016| 1 Comment »

MAD-Magazine-Uncle-Sam-Scream

Why why why won’t Georgia voters listen to me.  They should be because I hold the keys to election and policy success.  Georgia has gone to hell in a handbasket politically because the far Right folks have hijacked the conservative movement and the people Democrats break their necks to help won’t getting in the voting line.  They will get however in the “where is something free” line with a quickness.

Bernie Sanders: Senator Sanders is a nice enough fellow but how are you win Democratic primaries when you aren’t a freaking Democrat.  Geez.  The last thing Black folks need to hear in rural areas is a Santa Claus type character talking about redistributing wealth like Robin Hood.  The first thing working families need to read is the Best Interest Initiatives blog posts   on improving your life with little government involvement.

Hillary Clinton’s Southern Plan: Don’t sleep, Black generally love the Clintons and the Obamas.  But, cue the Janet Jackson tune about “what have you done for me lately.”  Most of the “Marched with King” folks are exiting the national stage and post-Obama will bring the reality that Candidate Obama was right: the White House can’t fix your life.  You need to fix your life or, more importantly,  you need to be deliberate in your actions/careful about how you carry yourself.

So, Team Hillary is counting on Black pastors and labor leaders to rally the bros and get Sanders off here back.  However, the hip hop culture is starting to embrace that socialist talk because they didn’t experience the cold war and the red scare…to me, socialism and communism are first cousins.

The Democrats southern plan shouldn’t start in the big cities because those people are real liberals.  In the non-Atlanta parts of Georgia for example, Blacks like moderate Sanford Bishop and don’t hate reasonable conservative Johnny Isakson.  The sensible center sways elections and the Tea Party got the GOP to kick most moderates out of their ranks.

So, Hillary needs to dust off the old Clinton/Gore/Zell Miller brand of moderation for the non-urban parts of her efforts. The new moderation starts with a frank discussion about limited government and so hard talk about why folk’s situations are messed up.  Of course, presidential campaigns can’t directly hard talk but that’s why Al Gore invented the internet and bloggers.

Democrats options for the Republican primaries: We know that Hillary will be the nom and why waste your primary vote.  Dems in Georgia can vote in the GOP primary and my first notion is to vote for Jeb Bush or John Kasich because they are presidential material should something bad happen with that Clinton email witch-hunt.   Of the other hand, helping Donald Trump win the GOP nomination would lock the White House for Clinton because (missing linking verb coming)…..”he crazy.”

Sanford Bishop gentlemen in waiting: Old Jimbo Fisher waited formally for Bobby Bowden to retire as head football coach at FSU.  In Dem circles, we speculate who wants to be 2nd District congressman or woman when Bishop heads for the golf course.  I think Hillary can win Georgia and it would be important for the South that she gets a few Dixie states.  To win Georgia, Dems need to go 45% in rural areas and go over the top in Atlanta.  To do that, they need candidates to take one for the team in GOP control congressional districts.

The last big action of Bishop’s national political career should be similar to his first—helping the Clintons win Georgia.  Rep. Bishop often quotes Luke 12:48 For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.

This blogger and former Bishop staffer is formally asking “the more.”  We need SDB to in charge of turning out the Dem 45% everywhere in Georgia under a line from Columbus to Augusta.

Secondly, someone who wants to be congressman after Bishop retires should run in the 8th congressional district.  That candidate will help drive out the Dem faithful in the heart of Georgia and that energy will spill over into neighboring areas.  We know the five serious candidates thinking about being next after Bishop and I know a good effort in the 8th would help hone that message…a message I hope to help craft.  And remember, news media coverage in the radiates into the 2nd.

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“Strategery” Why Blacks should vote for Jeb Bush and Vivian Childs

Posted in politics, tagged , , , , , on November 16, 2015| Leave a Comment »

strategery1

Strategery is a comical word said by Will Ferrell on Saturday Night Live while playing candidate George Bush.  Voting with a strategy is no laughing matter for Blacks in the South.

As we know, most Black southerners who vote favor the Democrat Party however, I stay ticked off by the fact that many Blacks simply don’t vote.  Oh, hard working, church attending, clean nosed African Americans vote as part of our civic duty and to help form a more perfect union.  But, a shocking percentage of Blacks who live in part on public assistance can’t be troubled to go vote.  But, the same folks pay 8 bucks every Friday night to profile at the high school football game…in the cold….for hours.   Really?

If those folks voted, the Republicans wouldn’t run most of politics in the South outside the largest cities.  Strategery would dictate that Blacks Who Actually Vote (BWAV) come up with a fallback plan because begging cats to vote isn’t working.  The purpose of voting is to select elected leaders who best reflect your views and opinions.  So logically, if the Democrats aren’t even fielding candidates in most contests, we must select from the Republicans…I won’t say “the lesser of evils” because most of them aren’t actually evil and I have yet to see any horns.

Georgia has a special election in December in State Senate District 20 and Mrs. Vivian Childs is a candidate.  You won’t meet nicer people than Mrs. Childs and her retired colonel husband Henry.  They are deeply involved in the Houston County/Middle Georgia community and raised outstanding children.

Let’s talk about trump but not about presidential candidate Donald Trump. I mean the fact that candidate Childs’ membership in a prominent African American sorority “trumps” the fact that she is a Republican.  Yes, DST trumps GOP with me because we are cut from the same cloth and have a shared cultural history.  This blog often points out many southern Blacks are conservative in actuality because we think success comes from personal actions rather than governmental involvement.  Yes, the government should protect basic civil rights but the safety net has created a softness with citizens of all colors.

Of course, the far Right trips so hard that they have ensure that Blacks aren’t comfortable joining the GOP until the traditional conservatives retake the ship….that won’t happen soon.  But, putting a reasonable, positive person like Vivian Childs in the state senate would be a step in the right direction.  Mrs. Childs’ career always involved helping people through education or ministry.  District 20 Democrat voters should vote for one of the GOP candidates in this non-partisan election and Mrs. Childs is a wise move.

Donald Trump got rich in business by using leverage and the Black community has little leverage in state government these days because we are overwhelmingly with the losing team.

What the heck is the Black presidential plan relative to Donald Trump in the South?  Hillary is the Dem nominee and that reality frees us up for strategery in the GOP primary.  First, the Republicans hate it when Democrats vote in the GOP primary so I like that…let their heads explode but I want to vote where the action is.

We could vote for Donald Trump or Dr. Ben Carson because Hillary would have an easier time whupping them next November.  But, what if they actually won?!  As we say on my block, “don’t even play like that.”  The GOP nom needs to be a serious leader with a proven history of governing…a big state governor.  While Chris Christie is a “big” state governor who can lead, I mean a governor from a “big state” like Florida or Texas.  With Rick Perry gone, Jeb Bush is the guy and Ohio Governor John Kasich should be his running mate.

Bottomline, Black folks need to get behind Vivian Childs, Jeb Bush and John Kasich because the stakes are too high to let the GOP voters decide alone.

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Marketable Skills: UDSA’s Quinton Robinson promotes STEM learning in rural Georgia….welder Keith McCants challenges Donald Trump on building America

Posted in politics, tagged , , , , , , on October 5, 2015| 3 Comments »

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Young people today often lust for the expensive lifestyle of a rapper.   Without family wealth or marketable skills, the wrong path has been a horrible option. Donald Trump is right about the exportation of jobs and available jobs require knowledge of STEM subjects… Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.  While these important fields involve many hours of studying, we should remember how many hours are spent trying to make the NBA or the rap charts.

President Obama and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack are on a mission to ensure that kids from every rural area have the STEM opportunities to prepare them for the jobs of the future.  Southwest Georgia is one of the poorest areas of this nation but the students in five SOWEGA counties will have advanced distance learning connections with researchers at Georgia Tech “stemming” from USDA grants.  These young people will be ready to help keep America at the forefront of advancements and they will be able to purchase the nice life from using their minds.  I bet they will be more prudent with their dollars than most rappers and ballers.

The following press release includes a quote from my college classmate Quinton Robinson that reads

“This will exponentially expand effectiveness of educational programs and help ensure rural Georgia is workforce ready”, said USDA Rural Development Georgia state director, Quinton Robinson.

At Albany State’s homecoming this month, the fellows are going to say thanks for making sure kids today have resources we didn’t have.  As quiet as it is kept, HCBUs produce graduates who often advocate for people and communities that could use a hand up…not a hand out.

http://www.rd.usda.gov/newsroom/news-release/science-technology-engineering-and-mathematics-stem-education-expands-five

Keith McCants is my favorite young person in American politics.  This conservative/moderate blogs at Peanut Politics when he isn’t getting up “before day in the morning” to work as a welder at the bus plant in Fort Valley.  Oh yea, he is also seeking reelection to the Oglethorpe, Georgia City Council.  And the fellow was born two weeks after I graduated from high school in 1982.

When Democrats and Republicans want to know what a real working man thinks about an issue, they call Keith while he is coming from or going to build America.  Donald Trump says we don’t make anything in this country anymore but he should tell that to Keith’s aching muscles.

Too many young people are focused on sports skills, rap skills, shake dancing skills and I better stop right there skills.  My daddy would say that Keith has marketable skills and recently Keith put a video of a young lady on facebook that was too exciting.  This young business woman was finishing drywall; she has the skills to pay the bills on a HGTV style.

When I was a kid, John Travolta’s character on Saturday Night Fever did a bunch of dancing after he spent the day learning how to sell paint at the hardware store. In the old school, you burn off youthful energy by attending college, serving in the military or learning a career from the ground up.  If young people stay focus and patient, they will eventually make manager or start their own businesses.

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Two Albanys, Two Sylvesters, Two Camillas , Two Bulldog Nations/ Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Coming Home”

Posted in politics, tagged , , , , on September 23, 2015| 1 Comment »

Carlton Fletcher’s Albany Herald column about two Albanys got me thinking about two Sylvesters, two Camillas, two DCs and two Bulldog nations.  Fletcher is one of Albany State’s first non-minority football players which would actually make him a majority player at a minority school—look the dude came from Ocilla to Albany because he wanted an education and he loved playing sports.

This blog loves Fletcher because he keeps it real.  The guy once wrote about the term “bus left” from our childhood.  He is a bridge-builder and you know this blog has a metaphorical bridge as a logo.  In a recent article, Fletcher talked about the Albany downtown where he works and the northwest Albany/part Lee County where others live and spend.  This situation makes me think about the Police’s song “One World Is Enough For All of Us” in which Sting sang “we can’t sink while others float because we are all in the same big boat.”

Albany

People now make money in Albany then cross Ledo Road (literally Lee Dougherty line) to eat, shop and sleep away from….you know.  It’s sometimes called White flight but there is a lot of Blacks doing the same.  Hey, you can’t blame someone from running from rough stats about the inter-city but I happen to love downtown areas more than strips of national food chains with little character. The solution for downtown Albany will come when hundreds of college students, Marines and young professionals actually live in lofts downtown….high ceilings, exposed bricks, old wooden floors, walk home after partying.  When I was an intern in the downtown development office, I told them that in 1988 but it never happened.

http://www.albanyherald.com/news/2015/sep/19/carlton-fletcher-coming-face-to-face-with-two/

Sylvester

Small towns like Sylvester have been traditionally separated by a train track and if you came up on the wrong side of that track, you might want to catch a train heading anywhere else.  In 1981, there was a movie called “The Night the Lights When out in Georgia” and at the end, Kristy McNichol’s character said, “I am not sure where I am going but I am in a hurry to get there.”

I was never in a hurry to get out of Sylvester, the town that turned the swimming pool into a tennis court to keep us from swimming.  I have been playing tennis on those courts for 40 years…so there.  With all the ugliness in the world, the calmness of the hometown sounds pretty good and with high speed internet, many professionals can do their jobs from anywhere.  Forrest Gump brought his money home and so should others.  Donald Trump is right in stating that we don’t make anything in America anymore and the Sylvester of my youth was about making crops and textiles.  To me, current Sylvester is a bedroom community of Tifton and Albany and that’s fine.

The Mayor of Sylvester is Bill Yearta and he sat in my den (under the framed pictures of my daddy and President Obama) and politely listened to every gripe I had about Sylvester dating back to that swimming pool drama.  Yearta took that heat for hours like current congressman Sanford Bishop and former congressman Jack Kingston like taking heat from people who they know aren’t going to vote for them.

I didn’t vote for Yearta but he gain tons of respect for listening to my explanation…hell, he should be a congressman.  Elected officials and public servants execute their official duties but they have unofficial roles that some don’t understand.  Does Bill Yearta do a good job on his official administrative oversight duties?  Yes, he is likely the best mayor in this town’s history in that regard.  Unofficially, you sometimes need a mayor who can encourage the citizens in aspects of life that aren’t directly about government i.e. pull up your pants, get off the corners, congrats on being a clean-cut kid, let’s not refight the Civil War.

Another old friend ran against Yearta twice and I jokingly called him the unofficial mayor of south Sylvester because he was a tireless advocate for this side of the tracks.  I was wrong for that because there is one Sylvester and Bill Yearta is the properly elected mayor.  There is one America and Obama is the president.  Some folks don’t seem to know that.

Camilla

Rufus Davis is running for mayor of Camilla.  Davis and I go back before 8-track and this citizen of the world came home.  Correction, while he has worn out several passports living all over the world, he was always rooted in Camilla and the life lessons of his parents.  I remember a college cookout when someone joked that NAACP stood for “Negroes aint acting like color people” and Davis was like NO, you’ll aren’t allow to play like that because my mother wouldn’t like that after the numerous improvements that organization has made for this nation.  We were like “chill, man….it’s a cookout” but Davis stood strong.

At the time, Rufus Davis and Dr. Carl Gordon were the only Black Republicans this pol sci major knew.  Yes, Davis was a pro-business, pro-growth, do-for-self conservative during the Reagan years but we know that Davis nor Reagan could be a Republican today because the party of Lincoln has been pulled too far right.  While I was partying in grad school, Rufus started a successful magazine in downtown Albany.

The current mayor of Camilla seems like a nice person and reading about him reminds me of Bill Yearta.   Camilla shouldn’t be two Camillas or Camilla vs. Mitchell County.  In many rural Georgia communities, people have moved from the city to the country for homestead living.  However, those same people seek to still control and offer commentary about town.

Rufus Davis might have been born to bridge the divide and to encourage One Camilla.  Rufus’s candidacy seems like a baby Obama situation…overkill.  If a mayor needs to bring jobs from corporations, Rufus has serious experience from working in multimillion dollar operations in New York.  If jobs need to come back from overseas, he knows global business.  How many small cities have an attorney as mayor when it comes to crossing the t’s and dotting the i’s?  If elected, I bet Davis will flip that drama on the news about the block party into a city wide festival series that highlights every culture that makes up their community…from hip hop to blues to bluegrass to Motown.  I look forward to coming to town for some of that.

DC

When I was in DC, delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton pointed out that Washington policemen and firefighters were living in Virginia and Maryland.  While they have a right to live where they want, having public safety personnel on your street is like having a police or fire sub station there.  There are two DCs and the big DC is controlled by Blacks.  One group making decisions without input from everyone is wrong.

Bulldog Nations

While this blog post is too long, I want to finish by remembering the divide created when Hershel Walker left the University of Georgia for the USFL’s New Jersey Generals.  How could Hershel do that to us?  I had my room assignment in Creswell Hall and looked forward to being a junior transfer student about to experience winning a national championship as a sports fan.  But, Bulldog Nation got so ugly when that young man decided that he wanted to secure his family’s financial future by turning pro.  Black folks understood because Stanford stadium seems like a plantation and I looked side-eye when Walker said, “I can carry the ball a bunch of times a game….it ain’t heavy”  Really?

We should remember that Walker’s exit was arranged by Donald Trump, the owner of the New Jersey Generals.  Trump burnt Georgia like Sherman.  While watching a recent PBS documentary on General William Tecumseh Sherman, I learned that the general who burned Atlanta became friends with several Confederate generals.  Southern General Joseph E. Johnston was a pallbearer at Sherman’s funeral.  The UGA family loves Hershel today; he is one of the school’s favorite graduates but can those people vote for Trump after he cost us a second national championship.

Summary: From politics to football back to politics, a house divided cannot stand.  I use to think Abraham Lincoln wrote that before the Civil War but when I started reading the Bible more I learned Mark 3:25 says “And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.”  Elected officials should seek to bring people together and find reasonable solutions rather than inadvertently dividing us.

Comin’ Home

You know Georgia is open for business—always has been.  Remember, during the roughest parts of the Civil Rights Movement, Black and White leaders in Atlanta would quietly meet and resolved issues with money and economic development in mind.  Refighting the Civil War seems like fun to some until they realize that new industry doesn’t want to locate in a place with social disorder.

Atlanta’s Lewis Grizzard wrote that once he got back to Georgia he was going to nail his feet to the ground.  Brother, I have been there and it usually involved a messed up stomach in the developing world.  You don’t miss ole Georgia until you are somewhere else.  When altitude sickness had my head spinning in Manta, Ecuador, I thought about Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Coming Home.”  Yea, those confederate flag-loving southern rockers are my homeboys too. Their “Gold & Platinum” greatest hit cd is one of my all-time favorites behind Thriller, the Police’s Synchronicity and the Gentler Side of John Coltrane.

Problem-solvers listen to all sides of the issue and seek a common ground.  Listen.  Who knew that in Sweet Home Alabama, Lynyrd Skynyrd sang “in Birmingham, they loved the governor…boo boo boo.”  So this Florida band was booing George Wallace….well, dam.

Anyway south Georgia is open for business and all those classmates who had successful careers elsewhere can retire to the warmth of the southern sun.  Luke Bryan can romanticize in song about south Georgia and we do ride in trucks but the next generation seems a little aimless at times.  Rather than talking about them, let’s talk with them because they could be heading backwards.

At the end of the day, I hope candidates for local, state and national offices read and take something positive from this blog’s Best Interest Initiative.  Those nine blog post are deep.

https://projectlogicga.com/best-interests-initiative/

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Sandblast Stone Mountain or Read the Best Interests Initiative: Isaiah 1: 17-19

Posted in politics, tagged , , , on July 20, 2015| Leave a Comment »

The aftermath of the Charleston church tragedy has some Americans flirting with crazy talk.  The killer wanted to spark a race war in this nation and he just might get his oxymoronic civil war.  The central theme of my day is often set by the scripture in my daily devotion and today Isaiah 1: 17-19 hit right on time.

Isaiah 1:17-19 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord…..If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land. 

“Let us reason together” has been on my mind since I started this blog with the influence of a Black Republican and a Black Independent.  We were just weary of those who favored fussing and fighting for political gains with little regard for the ultimate objective…a more perfect union.

If we reason together, we would calmly sit down and here from every point of view about the history of this nation as it relates to peaceably moving forward.  It’s silly to think that private citizens shouldn’t be able to displace the stars and bars flag or the red, black and green flag on their private vehicles and shirts when the flags represents themselves only and not the community or state as a whole.  It’s silly to discuss removing the figures from Stone Mountain in Georgia.  Really?  With all the jacked up things happening in the state and nation, this is your focus.  We shouldn’t remove all vestiges of racism because clearly we still have much racism–black and white racism.

During the civil rights movement, Atlanta was called the city too busy to hate.  Leaders in this southern city were about turning the corner faster and reaping the financial benefit of being cool, calm and collected.  You can trip all you want but when tripping starts costing you real money…hold your horses.

A friend pointed out a beautiful building in Savannah that was built to lure BMW to Georgia.  In the end, the German automaker went to South Carolina because in part that state addressed a confederate flag issues before Georgia.  The nation that has Hitler and the holocaust in their recent past was tripping because BMW was concerned about racial problems on their factory floor in the American South.  Again, when tripping cost you real money is time to sit down and come to some reasonable conclusions.

Reasonable people can say that someone fought hard for a cause that I don’t support..i.e. a Nazi combat flying ace or the military maneuvers of General Robert E. Lee.  But, if we insist on refighting the Civil War or addressing the stealing of this land from the Native Americans, we are going to open a big can of worms like the discussion of reparations…let’s not go there.

On my blog, I wrote the Best Interests Initiative to start a discussion about improving the South in a non-governmental way by having governmental leaders openly and honestly outline their limited roles.  It’s in our best interest to work together as brothers or perish as fools.

https://projectlogicga.com/best-interests-initiative/

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Cousin Pookie and Cousin Ray Ray: Presidential Difference-makers

Posted in politics, tagged , , , , , , , , , on June 1, 2015| Leave a Comment »

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Will the Black vote baton be passed from Obama to Hillary, will it be intercepted by an innovative elephant like Rand Paul (unlikely) or will it fall to the dirt?  With so much time before the presidential primaries, candidates have time to test and research new projects to reach all voters—run it up the flag pole and see who salutes.

Of course, all campaigns should be reading Project Logic Ga’s Best Interest Initiate because I have personally crafted a unique budget-friendly approach to many southern concerns.

Best Interests Initiative

Recently, the Hillary Clinton campaign announced the hiring of LaDavia Drane, former executive director of the Congressional Black Caucus, as outreach director and point person for the Black community.  Ms. Drane seems really bright and hopefully she will acknowledge the diversity of the Black community across this great nation.  To me, the CBC and BET has a thing about being “urban” this and “urban” than; like the Black community in Georgia is only the A-T-L.

Well, a quick look at last year’s elections would indicate that Atlanta Blacks didn’t care for Democrat candidates for governor and U.S. Senate who spent more time bragging about connections to old Dixiecrats and current Republicans than embracing the Democrat in the Oval Office.  Some of the time and energy spent trying to get the Atlanta vote out should have been spent on the rest of Georgia where Black voters are more moderate to conservative.  But, people sitting in strategy rooms in the DNC see Atlanta as a big juicy peach and the rest of Georgia as a pit.

Hillary Clinton could win Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia with ease if the suburban soccer moms support her.  It could be a national landslide for Clinton if that demographic was paired with most of the Obama voters but the uncertain segment of the Obama coalition is called Cousin Pookie.

President Obama coined the term Cousin Pookie for inconsistent voters.  Pookie would be the guy who voted for Obama during the presidential elections but didn’t vote for any other candidates on the ballot (i.e. the Congress that Obama needed).  Pookie doesn’t vote in midterm elections that often.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Starting tomorrow, you can vote too. You’ve got to grab your friends. You’ve got to grab your co-workers. You know, don’t just get the folks you know are going to vote. You’ve got to find Cousin Pookie, he’s sitting on the couch right now watching football, hasn’t voted in the last 5 elections, you’ve got to grab him and tell him to go vote.        

 

That Leader of the Free World Obama really cracks me up; he was so right.  But peep this: Democrats and Republicans should sit down on the couch with Cousin Pookie and ask him why he doesn’t feel the need to vote.  Wait a second, Pookie is over his mom’s house; a house purchased under a USDA first time homebuyers program.   He has countless friends who used military service as a ticket to a secure and better life.  Of course, Pok should be watching CNN during half-time of the football game because the wrong President could send those homeboys and homegirls in uniform into harm’s way for questionable reasons.

What would happen if Pookie was looking for CNN and came across Sen. Rand Paul, a GOP presidential candidate with some interesting views on prison cost and weed.  Paul is making a real effort at outreach.

In Georgia, Cousin Pookie might live in Hotlanta but he has folks from rural areas and the five or six smaller cities.  That would be Cousin Ray Ray.  Ray Ray served in the military after graduating from high school; he has never been in trouble with the law in his life.  When Ray watches the Democrats on T.V., he see a bunch of liberals who are breaking their necks to give free stuff to folks who have never show any personal initiative.  Actually, Ray Ray and his co-workers at the plant are pissed that their tax dollars are being used for more handouts than handups.

Cousin Ray Ray agrees with some of the conservative messages from talk radio in his F-150 or Ram with a Hemi but the next thing you know the talk about the President turns ugly and mean-spirited.

With so much time before next year’s election, the Dems and GOPers have time to listen to Pookie and Ray Ray.  Someone needs to come up with a fresh approach; something that’s about solutions and answers.  In the South, many Whites who voted for Bill Clinton are deep, deep into the conservative movement.  They are going, going, gone like a Braves home run.  To win, Hillary must replace them with suburban voters and rural Obamacrats.

I personally think the conservative movement has been hijacked by the most radical element but the Republican presidential nominee won’t need to say “they are sitting on their tailgates…listening to NASCAR.”  Oh, conservatives vote without encouragement and one voting conservative carries more weight than 1,000 non-voting Cousin Pookies.

There are those who think that listening to positive Cousin Ray Ray’s personal history and opinions will get Ray Ray voting and that Cousin Pookie should be listening to Fox News’ coverage of the GOP primary season.  If Fox doesn’t scare him off the couch, he isn’t coming off and Dems should let him feel the wrath of the Tea Party.

Naw, that wouldn’t be right.  I was reading about Esther in the Bible today and she said in Esther 8:6 For how can I endure to see the evil that shall come unto my people? Or how can I endure to see the destruction  of my kindred?   While the GOP isn’t exactly evil, some of them can be quite naughty.

Zora Neale-Hurston said “All my skinfolks ain’t my kinfolks.”  At some point, my community might need to spend more time and energy on the positive segments and less on Cousin Pookie.  In time, Pookie will get the message and decide to become Paul, Jr., an American voter.

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Going Off: Post 2014 Election Analysis

Posted in politics, tagged , , , , , , , , on November 5, 2014| 23 Comments »

The Democrats failed in the mid-term elections for reasons that were clear to most—except them.  I knew a year ago (no five years ago) that I would be writing these points today.

Money: Dems in Georgia raised and spent enough money for Nunn and Carter to win but they spent it in the wrong places.  Most voters are unaware of the cottage industry surrounding elections, an industry that centers on Buckhead in Atlanta.  First, you find a candidate who can raise tons of dollars with our friends then you hire our other friends to run the campaigns and still other friends to produce and do media buys for a zillion TV ads. How many people didn’t vote because they were weary from campaign ads?

The people inside this cottage industry won the election a year ago when they secured legacy candidates like Michelle Nunn and Jason Carter, rich fellows like David Perdue and sitting congressmen like Jack Kingston and a few others.  They had the money makers.

Better Money: If Nunn and Carter listened to seasoned cats like Sanford Bishop, they would have cut the media buy money by a third and put that money on old school street teams outside of Atlanta.  When the original Carter and Nunn were winning in the 1970s, the Dems knew to secure the support of old ball coaches, funeral directors, barbers, pastors and other community leaders.  These community leaders would put together teams of workers who made a few dollars.  Grandmothers would be so proud that their family members were involved and leading rallies.

I knew Michelle Nunn would make a great senator but her work history involving volunteerism concerned me from the start.  Black folks aren’t volunteering when they can see that you spent millions on T.V. ads.  They should have spent those millions on rally D.J.s and those free hot dog trucks.  Food and old school music will get the crowd out and that’s when you hook them with warmth.

Learning from Florida: There are two important lessons we can learn this election season from our neighbors to the south.  First, Gwen Graham won a U.S. House in North Florida by striking a correct balance between T.V. ads and community events.  Of course, she is from a famous political family but she rolled up her sleeves and pressed pressed pressed the flesh at dozens of free food events.  Hey, we like free food and Frankie Beverly music.  Graham took it home last week with a free Jimmy Buffet show…nice.

Secondly, Governor Rick Scott narrowly won reelection by running up the numbers in rural areas to counterbalance big Dem numbers in the Florida cities.  In Georgia, we have city Blacks in Atlanta, Blacks in the next five cities (Columbus, Albany, Macon, Savannah and Augusta) and rural Blacks.  Obviously, the plan was to get metro Atlanta to balance the GOP’s rural base.  But, those Blacks in Atlanta are real liberals who weren’t going to get pumped up to help Michelle Nunn while she ran from President Obama and ran to Governor/Senator Zell Miller.  Yes, Miller was a great Georgian back when but he spoke at the GOP national convention for Obama’s opponent. Black folks have memories.  On the other hand, rural Blacks are more conservative and more likely to support moderates like Sanford Bishop.  The Democrat efforts should have started by listening to Bishop.

Second guessing: The Democrat Party in Georgia spent the last year trying to get White Republicans to switch back…newsflash “They are gone.”  The party spent less energy getting the Obama base out.

Future: Michelle Nunn is still a big winner because she is position to be the Dem Senate candidate when Senator Isakson retires.  Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed would be the natural candidate but you know the cottage industry mentioned above must eat and they eat exceptionally well.  Again, getting money is more important than winning.

Black diversity: This blog started years ago as an effort to convince our community to take a better look at the details of politics and policymaking.  Both major political parties have incorrect approaches to us.  We need to take a hard look at the role political hope plans in how we carry ourselves because the parties and the government are indirectly hurting us.

Hillary 2016: Not so fast, we need to talk.

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