These figures clearly show Georgia prospered with 1956 soldiers flag. Keep this in mind when anyone tries to tell you the flag will hurt the economy and the growth.

Strangely the very organization that gained international recognition for their determined fight for the voting rights of colored people now takes a position of boycotting a referendum by urging black citizens not to vote. This leaves us wondering what sort of foolishness is the leadership of the NAACP trying to accomplish?

Let me validate the lack of intent to bash the NAACP, at least the NAACP that once proudly accomplished great feats in racial equality and equal rights. Leadership and objectives have changed drastically in recent years. The honored principles of great American leaders like Booker T. Washington and George Washington Carver are now dismissed as "not representative of current times".

The NAACP used to work for substance in the projects undertaken. Today, the theme has a different flavor, symbols over substance. That is why we see the leadership today tilting at symbols like flags, renaming streets and buildings, closing down historic battlefield re-enactments, revising the history used in the US National Parks, while substantial needs in the black community such as better educational opportunities, better job skills to elevate the economic standards of the large number of unemployed blacks.

Then there's the constant requests of local NAACP leaders, many of whom have remained loyal to the original objectives, who want more done about black on black crime, teen age pregnancy and other real social problems. You hear nothing of this.

We hear the current NAACP leadership and the media complaining about slavery (only in the South) 140 years ago, but not a peep about the slavery of black people that thrives today in the Sudan and Mauritania.

Those who follow the civil rights program locally and nationally realize the international NAACP has gone thru some trying times from both a standpoint of financial stress and alleged corruption within the organization.

The financial condition became so bad the organization has reportedly refused to furnish some detailed public statements required by law as a 501-C organization. This caused the largest consumer watchdog agency in the nation, the Better Business Bureau, to remove the NAACP from it's recommended charitable contribution list. (Check BBB Charitable Contributions website)

This causes some wonderment as to why the Georgia business community continues to cater to the symbolism campaigns of the NAACP. There seems to be a conflict between the BBB, which is funded and controlled by business people, and the NAACP.

More problems for the chambers of commerce or their members whose support for the NAACP could loom in the not too distant horizon as several of the leading Constitutional legal foundations consider potential upcoming legal action over alleged NAACP directed programs to deny retailers operating in interstate commerce the right to sell goods in shopping centers under the threat of a NAACP boycott. Consider the possibility of funding from these businesses being utilized by the NAACP to allegedly interfere with the delivery of goods in interstate commerce. What is the likelihood of required discovery to say the least in these potential cases?

Being a former member of the Georgia state Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and with more than 20 years in leadership in one of the largest local chambers in the nation, I can address the downside of chamber involvement in this issue with a pro chamber background.

The state chamber and those local chambers which got themselves involved in the the general election supporting candidates who were involved in the surprise change of the flag came up embarrassed. Not only did they lose the Governor's race where chambers and business members were the key leaders in raising around 20 million dollars, but they lost control of the Senate, and more than a dozen key legislators they backed. This was the most embarrassing defeat the chambers have ever taken in my memory and it's a pity.

Fortunately, some of the local chambers and many business firms in the state had the wisdom to refuse to participate.

Prudent business people would expect the leaders of the state and local chambers which went down the line with former Governor Barnes would have learned a lesson. Instead, the same chambers and firms have now put themselves and their members on the line for more political correctness engineering in state politics. One would think with the demographics available to thinking business leaders there would be some recognition of the estimated three million descendants of Confederate veterans of several ethnicities living in Georgia.

While it is true most do not belong to heritage organizations it is also true they privately and personally become aroused when agitated by professional profiteers whose existence depends on abusing Southern heritage.

The "quiet difference" don't say much publicly. They speak at the ballot box.

Any one who doubts the power of this "quiet difference" in elections can only look to the thumping Governor Barnes, Speaker Murphy and the chambers of commerce took in the recent elections. What was predicted by red faced pundits to have been an overwhelming victory turned into a negative 100,000 vote debacle. Business leaders company's which spoke in unison with the NAACP and continue to trash the heritage of a large part of their clientele are beginning to see a crack in their walls.

Stockholders who have seen equities such as Home Depot, Coca Cola and Georgia Pacific dwindle to a fragment of what they once were are asking questions. True, the economy has affected the value of these shares, however the corporations in question continue to pay millions of dollars into political and social issues on which their track record is dismal.

The wall cracks at the other end as well as the "quiet difference" of consumers begin to turn to other brands.

This is not an organized boycott, it is plain and simple each individual Southron peacefully and quietly recognizing who is fer 'em and who is agin 'em. This crack widens each day and recent gains by competitors of the anti-heritage firms tell that story.

Another important element in this commentary is the gradual realization by more people every day that this anti-heritage and 1956-flag attack is but a camel's nose under the tent. Framing the issue where it really needs to be reveals there is a much greater goal by the politically correct left in America. One has only to observe the recent rallies of people like Jesse Jackson where the orchestrated chant of the audience is "hey hey ho ho, Western culture has got to go"

Wake up and listen Americans, North, South, East and west. What is the flag today will be your family heritage tomorrow, and after that, your religion, and all the foundations of liberty and freedom you take for granted every day. Your Constitution, and it was intended to be yours, is frittered away by the month. The leading thinker at the Frankfurt Institute Marxist think tank, Comrade Antonio Gramschi, said "the workers will never see their true class interests, as defined by Marxism, until they are freed from Western culture and religion."

Our heritage, traditions and our flags are important parts of each of our respective cultures. America is great because we have cherished to our cultures while melding together for the greater good. Let not anyone try take that from us.

Georgia under the 1956 St. Andrews Cross for a state flag was almost clear of any racial violence during the sixties while many cities, North and South were burning.

Georgia's schools were peacefully integrated and the colleges and universities had no significant problems. During the period of the 1956 flag Atlanta and Georgia attracted leading major league franchises in all major sports.

While the 56 flag flew the Olympics came to Georgia.

Martin Luther King never spoke despairingly of the Georgia 1956 flag. Blacks in Georgia overwhelmingly supported the 1956 flag in poll after poll, averaging 70-75% approval. This continued until the manufactured NAACP campaign of the nineties targeted Confederate symbols in their quest to change strategy for corporate guilt contributions.

My friend, but political adversary, Governor Ernest Vandiver, same SCV camp at the time, performed the most courageous political act in state history. He went to the General Assembly and virtually ordered every Jim Crow statute on the books be repealed, not dilly dally, but in one fell swoop. That, my friend, was in the sixties under the 1956 Georgia flag with it's Confederate banner. More courage for his time than anyone I can remember. It was accomplished overwhelmingly in both houses. His courage persists today as he continues to support the return of our real state flag.

I thought to myself this year as Governor Barnes was conferred the Kennedy Profile of Courage Award, what a miscarriage.

Finally, I'll tell you about Atlanta in the turbulent sixties. It was a peaceful and gracious city due largely to the leadership of my friend and fellow descendant of the Confederacy, Mayor William Hartsfield. We and others worked for growth, harmony and better conditions for all the citizens.

During that period we went from under one million to several million population. All citizens enjoyed the benefits of community spirit, including the black community where more black millionaires reside than any city in the country.

Now, hopefully, you know part of the other side of the story.

Jeff Davis is a retired radio-TV journalist living in Gainesville, GA. Active in civic and political affairs, he is past president of the Georgia Jaycees, former vice president of the US and the world Jaycees, former campaign chairman of the Georgia Republican party. He voluntarily serves as president of the International Association for the Restoration of Confederate History and the Georgia Heritage Coalition. He is a collateral descendant of President Jefferson Davis.