Restore Georgia

The Georgia Heritage Council is an organization of Georgians engaged in preserving and restoring our cultural and political heritage and making our state a better environment for all Georgians to inhabit. The following important questions resonate with most Georgians. They are the issues we consider most crucial in the 2006 election.

Heritage Preservation

The GHC supports legislation, state policies, and funding to protect and promote our region’s history and cultural inheritance through education, tourism, and site and historic structures preservation, and events which celebrate our history, especially our Old South/Confederate heritage.

We support a referendum on the Georgia State Flag which will give Georgians an opportunity to vote on the 1956 Georgia State Flag with “In God We Trust” as our official state banner. It is the banner which most represents the history and heritage of our state.

The 150th anniversary of the War Between the States starts in 2011. The GHC believes organization and funds for the four years of this important anniversary should be channeled through the Georgia Civil War Commission. The events and educational programs and seminars should celebrate and promote our confederate heritage, not be venues to promote anti-southern heritage propaganda.

The GHC supports clarifying and strengthening legal protections for monuments and displays on public and private property which memorialize, celebrate, and honor our history and individuals who have contributed to our history and culture.

Georgia vs. Atlanta : Balanced Growth for all Georgia

While many parts of Georgia is declining in population and economic indicators, the Atlanta region is growing faster than resources in the region—especially water—can reasonably serve, faster than much of the population and local governments wish. In addition, Atlanta near and inside the I-285 perimeter is very different culturally, economically, and politically from the rest of Georgia .

The Downtown Atlanta Establish sets its agenda, and the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce sells a program of continued fast, imbalanced growth and development for Atlanta , at the expense of the people in the rest of Georgia . Even the exurbs, where people and their local governments are trying to slow or stop growth even as Atlanta Corporate CEOs push for more development.

The GHC opposes state support and funds for programs which promote concentration of development and population in Atlanta . We oppose spending more state funds on the World Congress Center . We oppose a state takeover or state funding for MARTA, which is and should remain a responsibility of the people and local governments which own and voluntarily join it. We oppose any state funds for the Atlanta Symphony Headquarters. We oppose state funding for Atlanta vanity projects meant to promote Atlanta and bring more people and development to it.

The GHC opposes the Atlanta Establishment’s plans to seize virtually all Georgia ’s water resources in order to continue fast growth in the Atlanta region. We support repealing present laws which allow Inside-the-Perimeter Atlanta to tap the water resources of the suburbs and rest of Georgia . Most current members of the legislature voted for this disastrous legislation during the Barnes-Perdue administrations.

MORE on Georgia vs. Downtown Atlanta

Ten Big Issues

The Georgia Lottery/Hope Scholarships

Current Georgia law lets kids who have never set foot in a Georgia public, private, or home school to get Hope Scholarships. They don’t have to be U.S. citizens, or even have attended school in the United States .

The Georgia Heritage Council supports limiting Hope Scholarships to kids who are U.S. citizens and graduate from public, private, or home schools here in Georgia . No exceptions.

Ballot Access

Both parties continue to ignore numerous issues of importance to the people, and have made it hard for new political parties and individual candidates to get on the ballot in Georgia . We support legislation to make it easier for candidates and parties to get on the ballot in federal, state, and local elections. Give voters more choices, and fewer echoes.

Eminent Domain

The GHC supports a constitutional amendment to limit the power of local and state governments to condemn and take private property for a clear and limited government use. We oppose the use of eminent domain to take a person’s property in order to transfer it to another individual or corporation for their use or benefit.

The proposed constitutional amendment voters will have a chance to vote on this November preserves the taking of private property for economic development. It will allow the legislature to enact laws which will continue to let a person’s property be condemned and transferred to another individual or corporation.

Illegal Immigration

The GHC opposes drivers licenses and government services for illegal immigrants. They are criminals, and should not be rewarded from breaking the law. They should be jailed and deported, and the employers who hire them should be hauled into court. Whatever our state and local governments can do to encourage illegal immigrants to leave our state and country should be vigorously pursued.