Let Georgia Vote 

Hold your nose and follow the money ...

For the last few years we have presented many facts and issues where various elected officials are faced with a choice of representing the citizens or the special interests. Only the naive would claim that our elected officials do not have to make that choice. This is not a choice that is limited to Georgia or American politics, it has existed throughout the history of mankind.

Throughout history this theme has occurred time and time again. The siren call of special interests, the money, the power and the egos have been major factors in the rise and fall of nations. Nations that are Blessed and nations that are condemned.

Dating back to the Old Testament:

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

Chronicles II 7:14

Our Founding Fathers were much more knowledgeable of mankind's history that what serves as "leadership" today. Thomas Jefferson also had some words about the struggle between special interests and the citizens:

"The issue today is the same as it has been throughout all history, whether man shall be allowed to govern himself or be ruled by a small elite."

- Thomas Jefferson

Today we see this same struggle where elected officials have to make their decision. Do they fall for the easy money, concentrate on staying in power, make the cozy deals in the secret meetings - OR - do they take a stand on principles and stand by the citizens who they are sworn to represent.

Our Founding Fathers established American Liberty based upon recognizing that power corrupts, greed is a temptation that many fall victim to and that egocentric individuals are the opposite of humble. They established many principles in The Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation and then the Constitution of 1787. These Principles have served us well, but they are being lost.

It is not the corrupt, or special interest pandering politician who are destroying Our Founding Principles, it is the citizens. Now many will object to that statement and blame it all on the politicians. Benjamin Franklin had some inspiring words on this subject:

At the close of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, Benjamin Franklin was asked the following question as he left Independence Hall on the final day of deliberation—in the notes of Dr. James McHenry, one of Maryland’s delegates to the Convention.

“Well, Doctor, what have we got—a Republic or a Monarchy?”

 “A Republic, if you can keep it.”

"A Republic if you can keep it." Those are words that every American should etch in their memory as we approach another election year. It is up to us - the citizens - to hold our elected officials to the standard of the principles upon which our country was founded. When they fail those standards we should pray for them, but replace them.

The current two party monopoly works very hard to keep you from evaluating this aspect of candidates or incumbents. It is based upon both parties drifting toward being embedded with special interests but predicting doom if the "other side" is elected. The sad fact is that in way too many elections today, it does not really matter whether the Republican or Democrat wins. The result will be very similar.

There is only one way to reverse this trend, provide more competition or options and to hold those in public office accountable. That means not electing them or replacing them if they are already in office.

The decision is up to you - the citizens. We urge every age eligible citizen in Georgia to register to vote, then vote, let your officials hear from you, evaluate them and then those that you determine represent special interests - do not give them your vote. If you do - you will just get more of the same or worse.

We also urge you to support our efforts to provide more choices. You may never want to vote for a Southern Party candidate, but shouldn't that be your choice - not one made for you?

The following article is about a Georgia politician who we believe has become too cozy with special interests and "funny money." The methodology of following the money can be very educational. In the case of Ralph Reed he is just too "close" to too much "funny money" and has the memory of a 95 year old suffering from Alzheimer's disease.

This will be the first in a series of articles about the budding new crop of special interest panders resulting from the Republican revolution in Georgia.

Lets Keep our Republic, in fact lets take Georgia Back!

The following article about Ralph "Funny Money" Reed is from http://GeorgiaHeritageCouncil.org and if you have followed their parody series on Ralph Reed you will enjoy this link.

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Laundering Ralph Reed – Commentary by Jim Dean Folks, It has taken a little time but they finally are getting around to using the "L word". The retired intelligence community people have watched all this with a bit of humor, all this massive investigation of what they could see instantly was a well oiled money laundering scheme. And it was a pretty good one at that. Religious and other non profits were used as fronts to launder the Indian casino cash into political operations. They married the most powerful political leaders, like DeLay...old friends like Ralph Reed and Grover Norquist...trusted staff members like DeLay's Rudy...and even their wives. Abramoff was what is called in the Intel biz as the 'cutout', the make believe independent. They never conceived that anyone could lay a glove on them. All that power, money, those life long relationships, top aides, wives....where would they find a thread they could pull? That thread was Abramoff, who went crazy. The wife thing was used because spouses cannot be made to testify against each other. But they can be used as bargaining tools to get a plea and make someone roll over. I can promise you that the Feds are squeezing Rudy, Delay's ex chief of staff, that they will bury his wife under a ton of years if he does not roll over on DeLay. His wife, by the way, got $50,000 a month from Abramoff on one of their half million dollar deals. When you see these people proclaiming that they have done nothing wrong, they may actually be telling you the truth about how they feel. In their world/minds, doing this is not wrong...if it is them doing it. If it were you and I...well...that would be a different matter. It's called elitism, and the country is rife with it, from the Dems or the Repubs...religious sanctimonious pundits...chambers of commerce...multinational conglomerates...to old retread civil rights dinosaurs (or their wives now). They all think they should be able to do whatever they damn will please because they are superior beings and this is their right. This is not a new problem. What has changed is that once upon a time we used to have honest crooks. They were crooks, knew it, and never pretended to be anything else. Today's crooks...well...they don't like the crook label. They prefer to be considered community, religious or political leaders and representatives. Crookdom and K-street lobbyists decided to shack up at the Watergate. Abramoff ran back and forth to the drug store for the condoms, keeping the change, and we got _____. Well, you know what we got. Whether we are tired of it or not...we shall see. Jim Dean is the producer of Heritage TV and a member of the Georgia Heritage Council. Source: Cox News Service Story Panel begins new inquiry on ex-lobbyist Cox News Service WASHINGTON — Another Senate panel is considering investigating whether ex-lobbyist Jack Abramoff abused nonprofit groups that were linked to his influence-peddling operation. The Senate Finance Committee, which recently obtained documents in the Abramoff case from the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, will review the documents as part of its “ongoing, broad-scale look at whether tax-exempt groups are misused for financial or political gain,” said a statement released by the committee’s chairman, Sen. Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican. The possible new line of inquiry — reported Tuesday in Roll Call, a paper that circulates on Capitol Hill — could have repercussions for Ralph Reed, a former ally of Abramoff who is running for lieutenant governor in Georgia. Reed received as much as $5 million in fees for running anti-gambling campaigns in Alabama, Louisiana and Texas. At least some of that money was funneled through private groups, such as Americans for Tax Reform, founded by another longtime Abramoff political ally, Grover Norquist. It was later disclosed that the source of those payments to Reed was money from casino-owning Indian tribes, Abramoff clients who wanted to tamp down competition. Reed, who rose to political prominence as leader of the Christian Coalition’s Washington operation before moving to Georgia to become a Republican consultant and past state party chairman, repeatedly has denied any knowledge of the source of the funds. Abramoff has pleaded guilty to several charges of conspiracy and corruption as part of a scheme that defrauded Indian tribes of millions of dollars in overcharges. The Senate Indian Affairs Committee has led the congressional investigation so far, and heard testimony from some involved in the lobbying scandal.

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