New residents could divide Georgia even more -- Immigrants, retirees and young workers might pull the state in many directions.

From The Georgia Times-Union by Walter C. Jones:

Talk about two Georgias, the groups that policymakers are wooing to the state could intentionally divide the population as fundamentally as Atlanta's growth did accidentally.

For decades residents of the Peach State have viewed metro Atlanta as an anomaly. Some jealously wished their capital city would share some of its wealth, while others couldn't fail to notice emerging political differences.

The nearly complete takeover of state government by the Republican Party is making the partisan differences more stark as legislators, district attorneys and county commissioners in the suburbs switch to the new majority party, leaving the Democrats' membership to be mostly inner-city blacks.

Those trends happened largely because many of the suburbanites immigrated from Republican states and brought their voting habits with them. No one planned that type of demographic trend. If anything, civic leaders recruited companies with the idea of providing jobs for the folks already here, not for out-of-staters.

Now though, communities are indeed recruiting people, and their success in drawing them here could exacerbate the cleft.

So who's inviting these new residents?

First, every employer who hires low-skilled workers has an invitation of sorts for international immigrants, most of whom are here without the troublesome detail of waiting for a visa and work permit. These are predominately young men, but also plenty of women, all in their peak working and child-bearing period of life.

Second, coastal and mountain communities have the welcome mat out for retirees, especially those called "half backs" because they've fled their Northern homes for Florida only to find they miss discernible seasons and affordable land. So, they come halfway back home and park in Georgia.

It's not that rural Georgians have suddenly developed an appreciation for a Bronx accent. It's these people's money they want. They shop at local stores - especially drug stores - and they inflate property values without putting new demands on local schools.

Third are the early-career workers nicknamed "the young and restless" by head hunters. These college-educated 25- to 34-year-olds have no children or roots preventing them from moving. That's exactly what they do, convincing job recruiters that for them living in a fun location is more important than who they work for.

A decline in their age group, just as the baby boomers are beginning to retire, makes these youngsters sought after by corporate employers to have their pick of jobs.

Chambers of commerce in Atlanta, Athens and Savannah are specifically targeting the "Y&R" crowd by capitalizing on night life, restaurants and other quality-of-life benefits. There's little chance of these Yuppies venturing out to other parts of the state, though, because they're turned off by the conservative attitudes and boring lifestyles outside of cities.

These three groups could create a train wreck for policymakers in coming years.

Each has very different demands from government.

Immigrants are going to be concerned about services like policing and schools for their children.

Retirees have no interest in schools, but health care is at the top of their list. At the same time, a fixed income makes them reluctant to agree to tax increases, new roads or amenities they don't plan to use. They also aren't looking to spawn growth in the little havens they've found. Critics call them CAVE People - Citizens Against Virtually Everything.

Even the jobs they create by their presence tend to be in the low-paying service sector.

Of course, the young and restless are, by nature, not long-term oriented because they know they could always move to another state at a moment's notice.

What they want from government is lots of amenities like parks, public transportation, museums, universities and a very liberal attitude about personal behavior. At least their high incomes make them fairly agreeable to paying taxes to fund the goodies they want.

The beauty of local government is it affords each group the chance to dictate what they get in their own communities.

But what do state policymakers do?

Legislators from various parts of the state fight enough already over their share of road funding and economic development. Imagine the fuss when these new groups reach a critical mass and exert their political power in a three-way tug-of-war.

Then, residents might look back fondly to when there were only two Georgias.