The ATL toting the load for the rest of the state (Atlanta: houses, neighborhood)

[Saintmarks]

This is not just an Atlanta and Georgia phenomenon. It happens all over the country. What is known locally as "Robin Hood" laws here in Texas take property tax monies designated for the Independent School Districts and re-proportions them from the wealthier suburban districts to poorer rural districts. There are examples like this all over the country. Even the state level. I hear Californians brag(or whine or both) on the proportion they pay to the federal government being higher than what they receive in turn.

[fourthwarden]

First of all, please get better at quoting people and formatting your responses to those quotes.

Originally Posted by bu2

This primarily has to do with Democrats, particularly Black Democrats, living in overwhelmingly Democratic areas.

Just because people live close to one another doesn't mean they deserve fewer representatives. My point still stands that they are being under represented.

You will not find neighborhoods that are 90% Republican.

I doubt that, especially in the more rural areas outside of the black-belt area in the state.


In fact, there was a Fulton precinct in 2012 that hit 90% Republican for Romney. JC13B, Fulton, hit 90% with 203 votes. Push out further than the core-5 counties and I am sure you can find more.

But both parties gerrymander to their political advantage. Its why the Deep South, which has become heavily Republican, has only recently had Republicans take over state legislatures in places like Alabama and Arkansas. It wasn't that long ago in Georgia.

Considering the drastic misrepresentation within our state compared to actual voting patterns, as I pointed out, I would be surprised if we weren't closer to a proper proportionate of representatives then than we are now.



Even if we weren't, and ignoring context of shifting political party positions and the far more accurate mapping and data systems we can employ today, 'both sides do it' is not an excuse to allow it to continue.

[cparker73]

[quote=bu2;51099436][quote=fourthwarden;51098053]

Originally Posted by LTCM

Its why the Deep South, which has become heavily Republican, has only recently had Republicans take over state legislatures in places like Alabama and Arkansas. It wasn't that long ago in Georgia.

How much of the Republican takeover had more to do with Demo(Dixie)crats changing parties than anything else back in the 80s and 90s culminating in the current horrible mix of racial grievance sugarcoated with a conservative economic agenda that was recently blow out of the water with the tax reform bill a couple of months ago?

The saving grace for the metro is that the just-OTP suburbs are starting to identify more with the city than Tifton.

[cparker73]

Originally Posted by bu2

Signage is one of my pet peeves with the Atlanta area. ....And, of course, the freeways aren't lit at night. The state has given that authority to the cities who are choosing not to spend the money.

The lack of lighting in tunnels is one of my big pet peeves. When I moved here three years ago, the tunnel where I-20 East and West merge onto the Connector underneath the capitol building used to be lit bright as day with at least 50 sodium vapor lights. Now, only one or two of those lights are working. I'd hoped they would replace them when they repaved the Connector last year, but it got worse.

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by Saintmarks

...

What is known locally as "Robin Hood" laws here in Texas take property tax monies designated for the Independent School Districts and re-proportions them from the wealthier suburban districts to poorer rural districts.

...

This is good.

[fourthwarden]

Adding into the wider context of unrepresentative political districts and power-distribution, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law claims the districts of Reps. Joyce Chandler, R-Grayson, and Brian Strickland, R-McDonough, were redrawn in 2015 to increase the percentage of white voters. Strickland has since won a state Senate election.


As such, they've asked federal judges to toss-out the 2015 maps. The motion includes dozens of pages of documents that the group said shows lawmakers used “racial data as a proxy for political affiliation” to pinpoint how many black voters it needed to shift.


Federal lawsuit targets ‘gerrymandered’ Georgia House districts

[Saintmarks]

[quote=cparker73;51099831][quote=bu2;51099436]

Originally Posted by fourthwarden

How much of the Republican takeover had more to do with Demo(Dixie)crats changing parties than anything else back in the 80s and 90s culminating in the current horrible mix of racial grievance sugarcoated with a conservative economic agenda that was recently blow out of the water with the tax reform bill a couple of months ago?

The saving grace for the metro is that the just-OTP suburbs are starting to identify more with the city than Tifton.

And how much of it is the Democratic Party platform moving so far to the left that the term conservative democrat is now considered an oxymoron? Zell Miller is a perfect example of someone who felt he was a lifelong Democrat that the party left him, he didn't leave it.

[fourthwarden]

Originally Posted by Saintmarks

And how much of it is the Democratic Party platform moving so far to the left that the term conservative democrat is now considered an oxymoron? Zell Miller is a perfect example of someone who felt he was a lifelong Democrat that the party left him, he didn't leave it.

Oh good lord the messed-up nested quotes.


I think the important thing to note is that you're not disagreeing with cparker. A change of political parties meant that the Democrats, once conservatives, went left, and that the Republicans, once progressives, went right.


They switched, and with them so did many, many politicians.

[Mutiny77]

Originally Posted by Saintmarks

And how much of it is the Democratic Party platform moving so far to the left that the term conservative democrat is now considered an oxymoron? Zell Miller is a perfect example of someone who felt he was a lifelong Democrat that the party left him, he didn't leave it.

The Dem Party is pretty centrist, especially in the age of Trump. The Republican Party now embraces Trumpism, not conservatism.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by fourthwarden

Adding into the wider context of unrepresentative political districts and power-distribution, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law claims the districts of Reps. Joyce Chandler, R-Grayson, and Brian Strickland, R-McDonough, were redrawn in 2015 to increase the percentage of white voters. Strickland has since won a state Senate election.


As such, they've asked federal judges to toss-out the 2015 maps. The motion includes dozens of pages of documents that the group said shows lawmakers used “racial data as a proxy for political affiliation” to pinpoint how many black voters it needed to shift.


Federal lawsuit targets ‘gerrymandered’ Georgia House districts

Interesting reading. Thanks, fourthwarden.