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Georgia is a state led by a primate city, just like Illinois, New York, Washington, Colorado, and Massachusetts. When one city has that much influence, there’s bound to be “two states”. Georgia just might the best example of such situation at its worst. Atlanta is already a monster in spite of our “politics” and infrastructure aside, what else is hindering Atlanta that Georgia has control over? I can’t think of anything else off the top of my head.
Here recently Medicaid expansion (which I’m not sure which side I’m on for that), and the lack of broadband in rural areas are the only real things that keep coming up that I hear. As far as poverty rates, with the exception the elderly and a small few, in 2019, poverty is not the governments fault, that’s on each individual person.
Virginia doesn’t have an answer for Atlanta. Our national capital could have been placed anywhere. Virginia’s prosperity seems to be based more on luck than politics.
If it sounds like I’m all over the place, it’s becuase I am. I agree that Virginia is a better balanced and a overall better state by virtue of “rankings” but in actuality is it a better state? IMO, no. Georgia still does have Augusta, Savannah, Columbus, Macon, Albany, Athens, and Valdosta. And even smaller cities like Rome, Warner Robins, Thomasville, Tifton, LaGrange, and Dalton that are pretty good anchors or co-anchors in their respective regions.
Noone knows what wouldve happened if DC went somewhere else. Who's to say Alexandria or Georgetown (MD side) or even Richmond wouldn't have become much bigger and prominent on their own. Seems a little callous to say VA just got lucky.
In another perspective it could be said that VA is admirable because its ranks better then GA without a prominent city like Atlanta within its borders so that it can fully reap all of the benefits back to the state.
This is a weird comment because most conservatives in Georgia live in the suburbs, not rural areas.
What does 'placate their rural conservative constituency' even mean.
The south flipped to GOP when it became more affluent and educated. The extremely poor urban areas are dominated by Democrats.
Population wise, yes. Percentage wise, not even close. Rural Georgia is far more conservative than urban Georgia.
And what he means by that, is that rural Georgians feel (and rightfully so) forgotten by the state when it comes to appropriating funds, and services. Like internet for example. But that’s not necessarily Atlanta’s fault. There are plenty of cities in rural Georgia (Statesboro, Tifton, Valdosta for example) that get the job done despite these circumstances. Even some (like Thomasville) fund their own cable/internet service and expanded them into neighboring regions.
In other words, there are cities getting it done in rural Georgia. You can’t expect the state to take money from the region producing to give to those with little to no economic vitality.
Population wise, yes. Percentage wise, not even close. Rural Georgia is far more conservative than urban Georgia.
And what he means by that, is that rural Georgians feel (and rightfully so) forgotten by the state when it comes to appropriating funds, and services. Like internet for example. But that’s not necessarily Atlanta’s fault. There are plenty of cities in rural Georgia (Statesboro, Tifton, Valdosta for example) that get the job done despite these circumstances. Even some (like Thomasville) fund their own cable/internet service and expanded them into neighboring regions.
In other words, there are cities getting it done in rural Georgia. You can’t expect the state to take money from the region producing to give to those with little to no economic vitality.
I don't think that is what he meant given he said GOP politicians 'placating' rural conservatives were holding back the state. Placate means to make someone less angry by giving them something they want. The implication is rural conservatives are angry unreasonable people, basically cavemen, because they don't have his political views.
I think most people living in rural areas like living in rural areas. They don't feel left out. A lot of big city people don't get this.
Liking where you live isn't about the number of people with college degrees or the number of Fortune 500 HQs in the metro, etc for most people.
I saw somebody post on Twitter this week that 60 percent of Americans don't have a college degree. They are probably not going to get a job at a Fortune 500 HQ. Manufacturing jobs, which are often looked down upon by college grads out of liberal arts programs, pay non college grads the most on average.
In Georgia, there are good paying jobs for college graduates in rural areas like at Southern Company's nuclear power plants. Many of the scientists/engineers who work at the Department of Energy's Savannah River Site live in Augusta. SRS is the middle of nowhere and even Augusta will feel like a very small town for a lot of people.
Last edited by ClemVegas; 12-24-2019 at 05:08 PM..
Georgia is a state led by a primate city, just like Illinois, New York, Washington, Colorado, and Massachusetts. When one city has that much influence, there’s bound to be “two states”. Georgia just might the best example of such situation at its worst. Atlanta is already a monster in spite of our “politics” and infrastructure aside, what else is hindering Atlanta that Georgia has control over? I can’t think of anything else off the top of my head.
Here recently Medicaid expansion (which I’m not sure which side I’m on for that), and the lack of broadband in rural areas are the only real things that keep coming up that I hear. As far as poverty rates, with the exception the elderly and a small few, in 2019, poverty is not the governments fault, that’s on each individual person.
The difference between those states and Georgia is that their biggest cities and their state governments are mostly on the same page ideologically: blue cities in blue states. Not so with Atlanta and Georgia which has the racial political divide on top of the normal urban/suburban (within the metro itself) and urban/rural divides.
Infrastructure issues and control of the airport are huge ongoing issues, plus there's the political posturing by state government officials which inevitably makes Atlanta look bad (i.e., the abortion bill, the fight with Delta, etc).
Quote:
Virginia doesn’t have an answer for Atlanta. Our national capital could have been placed anywhere. Virginia’s prosperity seems to be based more on luck than politics.
This is true but that's how it works sometimes. Cities and states can be the beneficiaries of good luck as often as they can reap the rewards of deliberate efforts to be better places to live and work.
Quote:
If it sounds like I’m all over the place, it’s becuase I am. I agree that Virginia is a better balanced and a overall better state by virtue of “rankings” but in actuality is it a better state? IMO, no. Georgia still does have Augusta, Savannah, Columbus, Macon, Albany, Athens, and Valdosta. And even smaller cities like Rome, Warner Robins, Thomasville, Tifton, LaGrange, Statesboro and Dalton that are pretty good anchors or co-anchors in their respective regions.
There's just such a stark divide between Atlanta and the state's other cities though. You can see how the rest of the state has been shortchanged when you look at Georgia's interstate system with Savannah being the exception for the most part.
Virginia is the better-performing state but everyone can judge for themselves if that means it is better in an absolute sense.
Infrastructure issues and control of the airport are huge ongoing issues, plus there's the political posturing by state government officials which inevitably makes Atlanta look bad (i.e., the abortion bill, the fight with Delta, etc).
The abortion bill only makes the state look bad to liberals like you. That's a 50-50 issue in this country and pro lifers don't just live in rural areas. Also, there is no evidence that pro life positions drives away employers. The growth and size of ATL is evidence against that. It is not like employers have not known there are pro life conservatives in Georgia.
You also said the governor of Virginia didn't make his state look bad. That's an interesting contrast.
Last edited by ClemVegas; 12-24-2019 at 08:29 PM..
Here's an article from the US Census Bureau that indicates poverty rate is lower in rural areas than urban centers.
Here's the pull quote:
'But the percentage of people living below the official poverty threshold [in rural areas] was 13.3 percent, almost three points lower than the 16 percent in urban areas.'
The abortion bill only makes the state look bad to liberals like you. That's a 50-50 issue in this country and pro lifers don't just live in rural areas. Also, there is no evidence that pro life positions drives away employers. The growth and size of ATL is evidence against that. It is not like employers have not known there are pro life conservatives in Georgia.
You also said the governor of Virginia didn't make his state look bad. That's an interesting contrast.
I don't even support that abortion bill but it still didn't make Georgia "look bad" to me.
The difference between those states and Georgia is that their biggest cities and their state governments are mostly on the same page ideologically: blue cities in blue states. Not so with Atlanta and Georgia which has the racial political divide on top of the normal urban/suburban (within the metro itself) and urban/rural divides.
Infrastructure issues and control of the airport are huge ongoing issues, plus there's the political posturing by state government officials which inevitably makes Atlanta look bad (i.e., the abortion bill, the fight with Delta, etc).
This is true but that's how it works sometimes. Cities and states can be the beneficiaries of good luck as often as they can reap the rewards of deliberate efforts to be better places to live and work.
There's just such a stark divide between Atlanta and the state's other cities though. You can see how the rest of the state has been shortchanged when you look at Georgia's interstate system with Savannah being the exception for the most part.
Virginia is the better-performing state but everyone can judge for themselves if that means it is better in an absolute sense.
I dont think that divide is as bad as it was.I think Atlanta is no longer just a regional city of blacks.Even in VA you have that NOVA vs the rest of the state.Its more of a political thing that mixed with racial implications like GA. GA is different as you have the far Northern suburbs and the mostly white Appalacian mountain counties where poverty still persist and the black belt in Southern GA
I have to disagree with the interstate system.In the past yes but Im here now for the holidays and I drove through Macon. There is a massive interchange system being built now.
Augusta already has an exchange and highway expansions.
Im confused because it sounds like the argument is that VA cities are so much more populous, but the reality is VA isnt like NC or even TN when it comes to having more than one major metro. While larger than GA cities they arent significantly so much bigger like say Atlanta compared to the VA Beach-Newport News metro.
I understand that there are more populous areas of VA but lets be honest,VA is 2 million people less than Georgia. most of that is Atlanta. In VA,most of that is in Northern VA.Basically the size of metro Atlanta.
It may seem easy to take Atlanta out of the equation by saying "well if it wasnt for Atlanta...." but with an area so large and influential its not possible.
All of Georgia cities have been greatly improving their downtowns. Really impressed with Columbus.
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