Posted on 07/15/2004 7:25:22 PM PDT by wagglebee
CRABAPPLE, GA. – Relaxing in front of his small ranch house, watching the birds flit around his feeder, Ronnie Pilcher looks out over the changing face of the place he calls home.
In the four decades he and his wife have lived here on 10 verdant acres, Mr. Pilcher has seen an explosion in population and wealth that's transformed this old orchard crossroads into a booming Atlanta exurb. Where once he knew almost everyone driving by on the old Birmingham Highway - and many of them stopped to chat - now an unfamiliar flow of Beemers and Hummers weave among the dented Fords and Chevys on the traffic-choked road. Nondenominational megachurches are replacing small country chapels, gated communities are spreading rapidly, and big chain restaurants compete with old-time establishments like Shelia's BBQ, where the sign says proudly: "Parking for Rednecks Only."
Even more dramatic, however, has been the political transformation: Once part of the solid Demo-cratic South - giving John F. Kennedy the second-highest percentage of any state in 1960, and as recently as 1992 backing Bill Clinton - Georgia now sits securely on the "red" side of the political divide. A confluence of forces, from the rise of a fortune-seeking middle class to the growing role of religion in politics, has given the GOP a foothold among the state's young professionals and older farmers, among its recent transplants and longtime residents. Although some Democrats here speak wistfully of a comeback, most admit the trend lines are running in the opposite direction.
Pilcher, a Baptist deacon and retired data cruncher for SunTrust Bank, says he's an independent. But as a self-described conservative, he identifies with the GOP far more than with the Democrats. Like many in Crabapple, he admits his vote for President Bush this fall is pretty much assured.
It's not just because he sees Bush as standing up for "traditional" morals - though he is firmly against gay marriage, and on abortion says: "Only the good Lord has the right to choose life and death."
The main thing driving his vote is a fervent belief in "self-reliance," the responsibility of all men, as he puts it, to make their own way in the world. He took this lesson, he says, from his father. But while Pilcher's father was a Democrat, he now finds these values and beliefs in the platform of the GOP.
"A number of Southern voters now see it as more in their self-interest to vote Republican," says Hastings Wyman, editor of the Southern Political Report in Washington. "The sort of issues that Bush pursues are a rather hawkish foreign policy, low taxes, identification with religion, and all these things appeal to Southern voters."
Georgia's swift transformation
Just a little over a decade ago, Georgia had a Democratic governor, two Democratic senators, and one Republican House member out of 10. Today, those numbers are almost reversed: There are eight Republican representatives to five Democrats - a ratio that would be even higher were it not for Democratic gerrymandering. The state has a Republican governor, one Republican senator, and a retiring Democratic senator, Zell Miller, who has endorsed President Bush.
The shift is emblematic of a decades-long realignment across the South, as rural and evangelical whites have abandoned the Democratic Party in favor of the Republicans. This realignment had its roots in part in the civil rights era, as former segregationists like South Carolina Sen. Strom Thurmond changed parties, and the GOP under Richard Nixon's "Southern strategy" began targeting rural Southern whites.
Even more of a factor, however, has been the growing ideological purity of both parties: Conservative Democrats - a label that once characterized many Southern voters - have become all but extinct, as have liberal Republicans.
For years, however, Georgia's political shift seemed slower than that of other Southern states. This stemmed in part from the lingering influence of the state's most famous Democrat, Jimmy Carter, as well as from the strength of Atlanta's urban minority population.
Yet increasingly, it's not an urban core that defines Atlanta, but sprawl. And the explosion of growth in the city's suburbs and, particularly, its outer-ring exurbs, is tilting the state to the GOP.
The tipping point, to the extent there was one, may have come in 2002. Nationwide, the 2002 midterm elections were a setback for the Democrats, as the GOP solidified its control of both houses of Congress. But for Georgia Democrats, the year was nothing short of disastrous.
The Democratic governor, Roy Barnes, lost his reelection bid in a surprise upset to former state Sen. Sonny Perdue, a onetime Democrat who has now become the state's first Republican governor since Reconstruction. In the state legislature, the longtime Democratic Speaker of the House and the majority leader were both defeated.
Most prominently, Democratic Sen. Max Cleland, a Vietnam veteran and triple amputee, lost his seat to GOP Rep. Saxby Chambliss, in a contentious race that focused on matters of national security and patriotism. To many, it has become a symbol of the nation's bitter divide.
Significantly, turnout in 2002 was up in both metro Atlanta and in predominantly African-American counties, both of which tend to vote Democratic. But it was up even higher in Atlanta's fast-growing suburbs and exurbs - in places like Crabapple.
From farms to a surge of new wealth
One of Georgia's oldest towns, Crabapple was founded in 1833, along a small footpath first used as a trading route. Settlers began farming the land after a lottery carved up the area, exiling the Cherokee Indians to Oklahoma on what became known as the "trail of tears."
Today Crabapple has one foot in the old South and one in the new. A community of 4,000 people 25 miles north of downtown Atlanta, it still has its share of farms, mostly small family plots of corn and soybeans. But they are increasingly being surrounded and squeezed out by the inexorable arrival of young professionals and a wealthy landowning class, who are changing the area economically and socially. Since 1990, the number of homes in the area has increased by 1,000 percent. The average cost of a home is $300,000 - more than twice what it was 20 years ago. The average income is $93,000 - three times the state average.
The contrast between the land-user and the Land-Rover classes is evident in other ways as well. One of the few buildings in town, which housed the old cotton gin, is being refurbished and turned into upscale restaurants and boutiques. Down the road, Mexican restaurants and mini-malls are opening. Horse farms and estate developments spread across knolls once dimpled with cotton. Mr. Pilcher, a man who still tends his own tomatoes, likes to tell the story of his neighbor who spent $200,000 on a polo field that has rarely been used.
A slogan for the coming election.
The democrat party left Ronald Reagan.
The democrat party left Zell Miller.
Hasn't the democrat party left you?
Vote Republican this November!
Sounds good to me. Although I never at any moment in my life considered voting for a Democrat for anything.
I'd love for it to happen in Louisiana. We're still several steps behind, but I'm optimistic we'll have our day.
Great slogan!
The democrat party left Ronald Reagan.
The democrat party left Zell Miller.
Has the democrat party left YOU?
Vote Republican this November!
Thanks. Hope I see it more in the coming onslaught.
Bush/Cheney MANDATE 04!
Love this. Its very pithy, as Mr. O'Reilly would say! Can we get it on t-shirts?
Something I have never understood is how the conservative [Bush supporting] part of the country became "Red America"
I thought Reds were the bad guys.
Think of it this way: for years, we allowed the communists to steal a noble and beautiful color, the color of life, the color of blood. NOW WE ARE TAKING IT BACK.
King Roy Barnes lost for two reasons. He messed with the teachers, and he messed with the flag.
bump
The south didn't leave the democrats, the democrats left the south.
Bye bye Blue Dogs.
Contrary to what article said, there are tons of moderate Republicans. It is the democrat party and their radical 60s leadership which is purging their own ranks for leftist ideological purity.
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