I have struck a cord; fortunately, a healthy, positive cord. The Party is alive and well, and there is an intense desire to move forward.

I was a bit overwhelmed with the email I got following my post of 11-24-04 entitled "A report of a meeting of local Georgia Democrats discussing our future. -- The meeting was in Savannah, but it could have been anywhere in Ga."

The story I wrote about didn't hurt the post either. If you've ever met Larry Peterson, you will appreciate the guy. He talks straight, and he knows his subject. The title of his article that my post was about was:

"How can Democrats regain the inside track? Local Democrats meet to mull over what - if anything - they should do to regain the loyalty of rural voters, especially whites. Talking the same language wouldn't hurt, most agreed."

It sort of sets the tone wouldn't you say.

Back to my post. I wrote about a certain Karen Arms, someone I did not know from Adam, but whose input hit be side the head like a flying chair at a Pistons came. She is reported to have said that "Democrats should 'kiss off the rural vote. We should forget about framing the message to rural people. We should frame the argument in urban terms."

Holly smoke, I thought to myself. Trying simultaneously to be diplomatic not knowing if I was dealing with one of Savannah's blue-bloods but not mince words, I wrote:

"Georgia is overflowing with folks coming here from other regions of the country, folks who have the skills and education to fill the job requirements of the new industrial age.

"We welcome these new Georgia citizens to our great state, and want them to be good Democrats. But if you come, don't be a carpetbagger. I don't know Karen Arms. She has a couple of things to say in the below story, things about folks that I am working to get back into our fold, not permanetly exclude.

"Karen Arms' ancestors may have come to Savannah with Oglethorpe, I don't know. But as noted, she sounds like a carpetbagger to me. If she is not, I apologize to her, and just note that this is not the message I think we want to be putting out.

An update on Karen Arms. And this I quote from an unnamed source who sent me an email:

"Karen Arms is a Brit (naturalized citizen, maybe). At least one other Brit, a European and a couple Jersey-sounding Yankees were at the meeting. Some of them are from the Landings. Place is full of rich Yankees. All very smart. Just ask 'em. Nice folks all at the meeeing, but it seemed ironic in light of message that we need to talk to people in they're own language."

Another email I received appreciated my using the term carpetbagger, and defined such term as follows: "Anybody who comes down here for a visit and forgets to go home is a carpetbagger."

You won't find such classic defintions in Webster. Rather you find the bland: (1) a Northerner in the South after the American Civil War usually seeking private gain under the reconstruction governments; or (2) an outsider; especially : a nonresident or new resident who meddles in politics.

For you folks who write, keep the emails coming, but don't be afraid to post a comment rather than sending your emails to be privately. That way our readers can enjoy.

You can use the anonymous option (the other option also allows you to sign in using a handle other than your full name), and no one knows wheterh you are a heavy whom I appreciate reading this blog just as I appreciate those who, along with me, share the status of being no more than a proletariat, a commoner, but as proud as punch to swear allegiance to the Party that cares as surely as grits are groceries, and will -- just as did the Phoenix -- arise from the ashes to live and rule again.

One email I received urged me to republish an earlier post about carpetbaggers for the benefit of some readers who may not have been regular readers way back then, and being in the what the heck mood, I will, but first, let me report that fortunately the state Senate did not follow the advice of the Karen Arms of the Party.

(And Karen, you must know that I am just picking on you to make a point. We want and welcome you to the Party. But we cannot right off an entire section of this great state as did the Kerry campaign with the South, including the our whole state. It is not smart politics. And in the past, no one would have accused our Party leaders of having fallen off a turnip truck.)

This past week it was announced that a Middle Georgia moderate and a South Georgia conservative will serve as Democratic Party leaders in the state Senate for the next two years.

Specifically, the Senate Democratic Caucus elected state Sen. Robert Brown of Macon as minority leader and state Sen. Tim Golden of Valdosta as minority caucus chairman. Robert Brown has served in the Senate since 1991 and recently was a senior campaign adviser to my good friend U.S. Rep. Jim Marshall.

Tim Golden for sure is a "one of us" type guy, served four terms in the Georgia House before his election to the state Senate in 1998.

Both are assets to our Party, and will serve our Party's interests well.
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Now to the requested earlier post, it was an 08-29-04 post titled and the post being as follows:

I'm with the flaggers on this one -- Mock hanging of Confederate flag; I say hang the carpetbagger

The Gwinnette Daily Post has an article entitled "Plan for mock lynching of a Confederate flag stirs controversy." And damn well it should.

It seems as though this guy from Florida – a no-good Yankee carpetbagger no doubt – has got it in his mind to hold a mock lynching of a Confederate flag as part of an art exhibition at a Gettysburg College art gallery early next month.

There is a minor movement afoot to cancel the show.

Count me in.Of all places, Gettysburg, a sacred place where both sides fought valiantly and lost thousands and thousands of lives. I took my three girls there, and hope to take my grandkids there one day just as I look forward to taking them to the Statute of Liberty.

I voted with the majority (the vote was 3-to-1) in the nonbinding referendum that approved our present flag, almost a replica of the Confederate national flag, the Stars and Bars. And I am proud of our present flag, not just because it is a part of our heritage and disguishes us from say Nevada, but because it is one good-looking flag.

I also liked the looks of the flag the legislature adopted in 1956 that contained the St. Andrew’s cross. I also like the looks of the flag the legislature replaced in 1956, but not as much as I did the looks of the 1956 flag.

(Andrews was the brother of Simon Peter, was supposedly the first-called disciple, and was reportedly crucified by the Romans on an x-shaped cross, claiming he did not feel worthy to be crucified on a regular cross as Jesus was.)

Am I glad we changed flags? You dern right I am. We had no choice.

Congress could outlaw "white only" signs, but not what the Confederate battle flag based on the St. Andrews cross had come to be – a symbol of rascism and hatred. Unfortunately, to many Americans it conjured up memories of lynchings, the KKK and nightriders, Jim Crowism, etc.

It had to go and I am glad it is behind us. Changing it took courage. We won’t hear about it next week, but Sen. Miller almost lost re-election in 1994 as governor for trying to change the flag during his first term.

And we all know it contributed to Roy Barnes’ defeat. Barnes has said: "Of course, I knew there was a chance [that changing the flag] would affect my re-election, but I also knew that the time had come to do it. We had watched what was happening in South Carolina and Mississippi. I didn't want the flag to divide Georgia more than it already had. It was the state government that changed the flag in 1956, and it was our responsibility to correct that mistake.''

I am happy the Stars and Bars has no such connotation. To try to give it such would be a mistake and injustice to the South’s history and heritage. As the Confederate national flag, Stars and Bars is part of our history as are our ancestors who fought with valor to the end, regardless for which side.

Just as the we now sing that great anthem The Battle Hymn of Republic which was the Union's marching song, we should not forget what the colors blue and grey represent, or let the song Dixie go the way of the Edsel and Oldsmobile, and not appreciate the book and movie Gone with the Wind.

And as far as I am concerned, neither should our Confederate Monuments in counties such as my own and so many others in Georgia and the South; the statutes that line the streets in Richmond, Virginia; and those on state capitols throughout the South, be regarded as other than part of our region's history.

The Civil War, the War Between the States, the War of Northern Aggression -- call it what suits you -- is part of our history. The Confederate flag is part of that history. The carpetbagger and not our history is who needs to be lynched.