Buckhead is Republican country right? (Atlanta, LaGrange: school, universities, live)

[waronxmas]

Originally Posted by LovinDecatur

Well said, waronxmas. As usual, I agree with you.

Thanks darlin'! I'll remember that when I run for mayor in a few years

[David1502]

There are several different "Buckhead" demographic groups. As has been referred to earlier in this post, there is the long established old money, "Betty Buckhead", which resides primarily west of Peachtree in the single family estates centered along West Paces Ferry Rd. This area consists of married with kids who attend the three elite private schools. These affluent households, while definitely predominately Republican give the most to both political parties of any precinct in the state.

To their south, there is the so called "lawyers ghetto" along Howell Mill near Collier(and the up and coming Underwood Hills area west of I-75). Less affluent than their neighbors to the north and while they lean Republican, they are probably less Republican in their voting patterns.

In the apartments and high rise condos along Peachtree and surrounding Lenox Square and Phipps, you'll find a "Sex in the City" demographic consisting primarily of singles and many Northern transplants whos voting patterns are probably more akin to their liberal voting neighbors to the south in Morningside/Ansley Park.

A final group will be what remains of the older, less affluent apartments surrounding the Lindbergh MARTA Station. This population, consisting of many minorites, is a Democratic voting group.

The lifstyle concerns of each group determines their voting patterns - for example, the West Paces Ferry crowd probably doesn't have as strong a passion for improved Atlanta Public Schools as their less affluent neighbors as they have chosen private for their kids. Increased income taxes for $250,000 and up (to fund Health Care Reform) hits close to home here! The single population (and single women in particular) will have a greater concern for a safety net than an a married "Betty Buckhead" driving an Escalade with Westminster School stickers on the back.

Finally, my anectodotal evidence from driving down West Paces Ferry around election time is while there were far more Republican signs in yards, there were a few Democratic signs and one hard core "Get out of Iraq Now" household which I haven't seen as passionately elsewhere.

[Saintmarks]

Originally Posted by rackensack

Not to put words in anyone's mouth, but my understanding of most conservative strains of politics and belief is that they emphasize and celebrate the value of individual, rather than collective, action and responsibility, and champion the rights pertaining to private property and the proper enjoyment of the fruits thereof by the property owner. There are nearly as many kinds of conservatives as there are conservative individuals, but most would regard a garden owned, maintained, and enjoyed in common by a group rather than by an individual or corporate entity as, if not anathema, then at least a Bad Thing.

Of course, I have no idea whether most of those who wrap themselves in the flag of "conservatism" these days actually have any such views on the nature of property and the enjoyment thereof, or whether they're too preoccupied with other people's sexuality and with kicking butt and taking names in other parts of the world.

If you want to know the "Bad Thing" that unifies the majority of conservatives (if you must have a big brush) it is that so much of their hard earned money goes to taxes; federal, state, local, taxes imbedded in other taxes, tax, tax, tax. They don't mind paying taxes, they just don't like having to pay more and more and more for less and less and less... on so many levels... ESPECIALLY the Federal level.

My previous example of Cobb County shows this. Cobb, as conservative as it is, consistently passes referendums to fund schools, roads, infrastructure, and yes, even park land. Conservatives like local government because they can 1) be involved in how their moneys are spent and 2) they realize their own personal investments (homes, properties, businesses) will prosper in a community that is top notch in "community."

I have dug out an email someone sent me recently, it states in simple terms why I am a Conservative (note: I didn't say I am a Republican, I said I am a Conservative). To keep this post from being too long, will post in a new one.

[Saintmarks]

(Copied and pasted from an email I received sometime back. Sorry, don't have a credit to the original author)

An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had once failed an entire class. ??????????????-

That class had insisted that Obama's socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.

The professor then said, "OK, we will have an experiment in this class on Obama's plan. All grades will be averaged and everyone will receive the same grade so no one will fail and no one will receive an A."

After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy.

As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little.
The second test average was a D!

No one was happy.

When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F.

The scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else. All failed, to their great surprise, and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed.

Could not be any simpler than that.

[waronxmas]

Originally Posted by Saintmarks

(Copied and pasted from an email I received sometime back. Sorry, don't have a credit to the original author)

An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had once failed an entire class. ??????????????-

That class had insisted that Obama's socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.

The professor then said, "OK, we will have an experiment in this class on Obama's plan. All grades will be averaged and everyone will receive the same grade so no one will fail and no one will receive an A."

After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy.

As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little.
The second test average was a D!

No one was happy.

When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F.

The scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else. All failed, to their great surprise, and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed.

Could not be any simpler than that.

Please tell me you do not buy into this whole "Obama is a socialist!" nonsense? As a socialist, I can you for a fact he is not one. I would be great if he were though!

[Saintmarks]

Originally Posted by waronxmas

Please tell me you do not buy into this whole "Obama is a socialist!" nonsense? As a socialist, I can you for a fact he is not one. I would be great if he were though!

Should have edited out the name of Obama cause that wasn't central in my point. Don't know at what point on the right to left scale where one goes from conservative to moderate to liberal does the socialist label accurately apply, but when the federal government controls more and more of the marketplace, you have to acknowledge that socialist forces and ideology are at play (nationalized health care, wall street bank bail outs, GM, Chrsyler).

Seems to be a trend here.

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by Saintmarks

Should have edited out the name of Obama cause that wasn't central in my point. Don't know at what point on the right to left scale where one goes from conservative to moderate to liberal does the socialist label accurately apply, but when the federal government controls more and more of the marketplace, you have to acknowledge that socialist forces and ideology are at play (nationalized health care, wall street bank bail outs, GM, Chrsyler).

Seems to be a trend here.

Not to mention the increasingly oppressive tax burden placed on the high income earners representing a major redistribution of wealth. Is that not a cornerstone of Socialism?

[waronxmas]

Originally Posted by Saintmarks

Should have edited out the name of Obama cause that wasn't central in my point. Don't know at what point on the right to left scale where one goes from conservative to moderate to liberal does the socialist label accurately apply, but when the federal government controls more and more of the marketplace, you have to acknowledge that socialist forces and ideology are at play (nationalized health care, wall street bank bail outs, GM, Chrsyler).

Seems to be a trend here.

I do not deny that the Democratic party has certain tenants of liberal socialism in their platform, that's why I vote for them over Republicans, but it's not true blue socialism. Neither are the Healthcare bill, the bank bailout (started by George W. Bush), or the takeover of GM and Chrsyler. The healthcare bill is fixing a broken system, and the bailouts were corporate welfare.

[atlantagreg30127]

Note before this gets out of hand - the TOPIC is not about socialism, Obama, or policies in Washington. Please refer to the first post for the topic. Thank you.

[altsde]

Originally Posted by wildcat2009

The neighborhood is very right wing or not?

It is as a rule. Buckhead is a wealthy area, and also a large business district. Those elements help balance it out to a degree. It's also older people, of which many are well lived and traveled so as not to be confused with the local population.

In general, there isn't any large area of people with money anywhere in the South that will not be conservative. It's quite honestly a reason many well educated leave.