Our Position on the March Referendum, by J. A. Davis
GHC does not take a position as to how anyone should vote or not vote
since we do not recognize the March Flag Referendum as a valid representation of the voice of the people.
It has no effect in law. It is a rigged hoax.
This rigged back room deal is an attempt to intentionally prevent the
people from having a fair vote on all of the contending flags.
The issue will never be settled until the people get a Fair Vote. Debating the
value or results of a rigged hoax is a waste of time, not to mention taxpayer dollars.
GHC will continue to inform the public on the facts about any Confederate flag or
symbol, equally, and will refute distortions and misleading information designed to sway
public opinion. In this regard we commend your attention to the article by
Steve Scroggins (Georgia Trend repeats the BIG LIES - A Rebuttal ) refuting
or exposing biased attempts to defame anything Confederate.
To emphasize this point GHC calls to your attention efforts by another political point
of view to convince the public that the 2003 flag, often called the "Perdue flag," is a replica of an official
Confederate flag. This is not so. While there is some similarity to the First National Flag of the
Confederacy, remember that the First National was never in it's short life an official Confederate flag. It was a
"provisional flag," replaced by the Confederate Congress with the Stainless Banner (Second National). The
contention (published in newspapers statewide) of those who designed the 2003 Perdue flag to look like the First
National is that the thirteen stars represent the thirteen original colonies, not the thirteen Confederate states.
The proof that this is an attempt to fool the public is that the Provisional First National had but seven stars which
represented the original seven Confederate states. They've already laid the groundwork to deny any Confederate heritage
in this flag when that aspect comes under attack later.
These and all distortions about Confederate symbols need to be exposed
without compromising our position that a Fair Vote must include all three flags flown over Georgia for the past three
years. All the choices must be offered in a referendum that will be
representative of all Georgia voters, regardless of party. The March 2
referendum falls far short of that goal and in all likelihood will result in a low turnout
dominated by one party.
Finally, I would like to address the spin developed by the brain trust of Atlanta big
business firms designed to inflame a segment of our population. These wizards of the word are suddenly
concerned the Fair Vote Act has become the will of the people. To combat this they have started a campaign
criticizing the idea of a Fair Vote as being "divisive." Big business maintains that including all three
flags in a showdown vote is offensive.
The Georgia Heritage Coalition responds to big business and the special interests
they hope to serve by the following statement from Chairman Jeff Davis.
To call a fair flag vote by all the people "divisive" is another attempt
to disguise the secret back room deal to deny the people a fair choice. Our
government is based on the consent of the governed. We believe it UnAmerican
to deny the people a free and fair vote. To claim aversion to
divisiveness is, in reality, an attempt to create a divided population
to suit the purposes of an elite minority. This
special interest minority imposes their rigged flag referendum rather
than allowing the people to express their will. The real divisiveness
is the attempt of these special interests to create suspicion and hate
within a segment of our society. The real divisiveness began in 2001 and salt was rubbed in that wound
by the 2003 legislative action to thwart the people's will. Judge for yourself who and what is
divisive.
There is a simple and final solution. Let
the people decide which is divisive and which is harmonious. Why should anyone
be afraid of letting the public speak in the
American way? Anyone who opposes that is looking for a reason to be offended. Eleanor Roosevelt once said
"You can't be offended unless you want to be."
Jeff Davis
Chairman, Georgia Heritage Coalition
J. A. Davis is a retired radio and
television journalist living in Gainesville, Georgia. He is
volunteer Chairman of the Georgia Heritage Coalition.
About Georgia Heritage Coalition
About the 2004 Georgia Flag Fair Vote bill
Contact: Telephone 770 297-4788 P-6, 2360 Thompson Bridge Road Gainesvlle,
GA 30501
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