Georgia took a big step toward a better, more progressive state today.
As the founding Executive Director, I’m glad to announce that we launched Better Georgia with a statewide campaign to organize Georgia voters who are disappointed with the direction Gov. Nathan Deal and the leaders of our General Assembly are taking the state.
Better Georgia will focus lawmakers on schools and jobs instead of fringe issues that have made our state unattractive to business investment and job growth.
Anyone who has lived in Georgia for more than a decade remembers when our state was the shining Capital of the New South. We remember when Georgia led the nation with smart business, outpacing our Southern peers with quality job growth and rivaling northern states with our education system. Today we lead the nation in bank failures.
It turns out that Gov. Deal’s Georgia looks a lot like Alabama.
Georgia faces historic levels of unemployment with nearly half a million workers looking for jobs. Georgia has the third highest poverty rate in the nation, with two cities ranked among the nation’s 10 poorest places to live. And Georgia’s students are defaulting on student loans faster than the national average.
Meanwhile, businesses refuse to open in Georgia because our elected officials can’t seem to focus on building an environment that attracts the best jobs. This would include a community that celebrates diversity, provides a quality education and maintains a transportation system that works.
Georgia once took pride in rising above issues that held back much of the South. Today, Gov. Deal and many of our lawmakers are chasing every bad idea Conservatives have dreamed up -- from Alabama’s anti-immigrants law to Mississippi’s personhood amendment.
Earlier this year, Georgia passed a law that will cost the average family farmer $1.2 million in lost revenue annually, for a total up to $1 billion in losses statewide. One section of this anti-immigrants law is similar to one passed in Alabama that requires police to prove the immigration status of people they believe are in the state without documentation. Alabama’s law recently led to the embarrassing arrest of a German executive with Mercedes-Benz who was visiting for business. Both states have watched crops rot in the fields and suffered economic losses at the hands of our lawmakers.
And now two Georgia lawmakers – one Republican, one Democrat -- have proposed separate bills that would bring the zygote “personhood” law to Georgia, putting the state’s research institutions in jeopardy. A similar referendum failed with Mississippi voters this summer.
Georgia’s economy is too fragile to be distracted even for a minute with these fringe issues. We can’t afford these laws that are proven to be bad for jobs and bad for our economic recovery.
Better Georgia, as a state partner with the proven Progress Now network, is dedicated to fighting the nonsense that somehow passes for “common sense” under the Gold Dome these days. We’re dedicated to organizing Georgians who aren’t ready to give up on our state.
I'm asking for your help today and throughout the long hard fight ahead.
Take Action Now.
So, what can you do to help? If you live in Georgia, please join the movement.
The first step is to take a two-question poll that will help focus attention on real issues that matter to real Georgians: BetterGeorgia.com/Poll
Share this poll with your friends, family and colleagues.
Then, you can also join the discussion at Facebook.com/BetterGeorgia.
The most important action you can take right now is to tell anyone who will listen that we’re not giving up on Georgia. We are prepared to stand together and rebuild the Empire State of the South.