I am middle class, close to upper middle class by some standards, and I don’t need many government services except for police, fire, and roads. I advocate for education but when “DS 2.0″ is ready, he will go to private school. I advocate for other kids more so than mine.

My question is, what representation are they lacking?

Is it a matter of them being represented by Dems and they want Repub representation?

No matter who is representing them, there will always be lack of accountability in government.

Something doesn’t add up here.

Recently, the West St. expansion has brought a lot of money to the downtown area with high price condos and so forth. So there’s been plenty of gentrification that has happened to poor areas—thus many poor people have been forced out.

So where is this split going to happen especially when you consider that major companies like CNN dominate the downtown area? In many aspects, Atlanta is becoming like New York. There are pockets are poor areas and there are pockets of rich areas.

For example, Cascades area has affluent blacks and poor blacks. Also, of course you have your mostly white affluent areas…

So who knows where this is going to go…

So they wanted to be their own little state.

You and Stacey have articulated the essential “lack of accountability” that promotes the kind of corruption and inefficiency that is endemic in Fulton County. Previously, I couldn’t quite get a solid handle on the source of the problem while recognizing that it existed. I simply knew that it must be enormously frustrating to those Fulton county citizens (and, indeed, all citizens) who feel unrepresented while footing the bills and receiving little in return except the knowledge that their hard earned money was going down the black hole of corruption and inefficiency. Adding to their frustration is the knowledge that they are being labeled hateful and racist for their very understandable frustrations.

I appreciate the clarification from both of you and I feel that you have nailed the essence of the problem.

I agree with the secession to form Milton County, and here is why:

1. Counties with large populations of poor Blacks are able to get elected by playing the race card, and have little accountability to those who actually generate tax revenue. Just look at the racially charged election for Fulton County commissioner that occured last November

2. While people may try to depict this issue as white people who are racist and want to see poor Blacks suffer, that is disingenuious. I think peple get tired of paying thousands of dollars per year to a system, that makes a concerted effort to ignore their concerns, while also laying a “you’re a racist” guilt trip. This is an issue that is about lack of accountability.

3. I think people also feel as if “Since you are all about YOUR people and YOUR community” (referring to Black leaders and elected officials lecturing other communities), why don’t YOU and NOT ME, take care of YOUR people. If a person called me racist, but always had their hand out for me to give them cash, I would get ticked too.

4. This move to secede was really brought to a head in the last election. Shirley Franklin, John Lewis, and Andrew Young made an ad stating that if the white Republican was elected, things would be worse than the March to Selma in when the police brutalized the civil rights workers. The Black Democratic candidate won.

5. I would also put forth that Black elected officials who represent large numbers of poor minorites have the luxury of completely mismanaging the office and covering up the duplicity, if they can tax other, more affluent constituents, especially if the affluent residents are white. Nothing like using class warfare and the race card to get in power, and then act as if the more affluent residents are the ones with the problem as their taxes get raised.

I will never live in a municipality that has an all-Black or a majority Black representative council. Using Atlanta as the example, the politics will be long on theatrics, and short on effective government.

The whole situation lends itself to a remarkable lack of accountability that you don’t usually see in a democracy. And that leads to an unusual level of power. And we all know the old saying about power and corruption.

Interesting analysis! The sad thing is that those who do not hold their elected officials accountable are the ones who pay the biggest price.

They do NOT have to worry about their jobs or about being held accountable for results. This is one bad effect of the block-voting pattern that blacks tend to engage in. You MUST be a Democrat to be elected in these areas, and it helps a LOT to be a BLACK Democrat.

This is not meant to imply that merely because one is black or a Democrat that that will lead to incompetency or corruption. I’m just saying that the political situation lends itself to a lack of accountability, and that leads to corruption.

I think another factor is probably the extreme alienation we are told many low-income inner city blacks feel towards our society at large. I think this explains to some degree why someone like Marion Barry or kept getting elected. My guess is the first consideration is to vote for someone that can relate to you, and that this outweighs any other consideration.

Yes — 70-odd years ago.

Now Milton is rich, and is seeking secession and no one here has a problem with that.

Perhaps you might explain why we should.