I have noticed that as political junkies sift through the ashes of yesterday’s election in Georgia few people have discussed the defeat of the proposed constitutional Amendment #2. The proposed amendment would have raised annual car tag fees in the state by $10 and the money would purportedly have gone to fund additional trauma centers in underserved areas of the state. According to the AJC the people of Georgia refused to raise taxes on themselves by a margin of 53% to 47%.

I wrote about this issue earlier and last week I found this comment on peachpundit.com: “I got burned with the 400 toll roads. I fully believed the government when it was said the tolls would come down when it was paid for. Since that is not going to happen, I will probably vote no on everything from now on.” It seems that I wasn’t the only person fed up with the way the state of Georgia has been stealthily slipping their hand into my wallet.

I know of no political figure that opposed this amendment and there was a multimillion dollar ad campaign which supporters of the amendment funded in the weeks before the election. The tax increase lost by 129,000 votes.

I hope Republicans are paying attention.

For decades political commentators have believed that there are only two classes of Republicans, the Moderate Republican and the Conservative Republican. This dual classification system seems to have originated in the early 1980’s during the Reagan Revolution and has been the commonly accepted wisdom ever since.  While the dual classification has served most political discussions well, a few years ago GA Jim researchers noticed that the behavior of some Republicans in Georgia would no longer permit them to be classified as Moderate or Conservative. The shocking conclusion is that Georgia has become the breeding ground for a new species of political animal commonly known as the Tax and Spend Republican (scientifically as Perduica Spendica).

Throughout Georgia’s history it has been home to a small population of Conservative Republicans along with a few scattered Moderate Republicans. The small bands of moderate and conservative Republicans roamed over Georgia but their differences were irrelevant because they operated in obscurity as Democrats controlled the state. But the state’s political ecosystem experienced a seismic shift early in the new millenium as the the Republican party of Georgia assumed control of the political landscape. The ensuing irrational exuberance brought together the native Moderate and Conservative Republicans and despite their incompatible tendencies the unholy union soon produced a new, hybrid species of political animal. When asses breed with horses the result is a mule. When Moderate Republicans and Conservative Republicans come together the result is a Tax and Spend Republican. Unfortunately, Tax & Spend Republicans are not sterile like mules so the species is spreading through Georgia like Kudzu. 

Research of this new species is hampered by the fact that most of their curious behavior occurs in inconvenient, sparsely attended meetings, behind closed doors or over drinks in inaccessible locales. But despite this adversity persistence has finally paid off and you can find a perfect description of Tax & Spend Republican behavior in this article from the Atlanta Journal and Constitution: http://bit.ly/dixKby

As you see in the article the behavior of Georgia’s Governor Sonny Perdue is inexplicable when viewed within the context of the Conservative/Moderate Republican dual classification system. The Governor extended tolls on his constituents when the state explicitly promised that would not occur. Governor Perdue rationalizes his behavior and then tries to hide behind the ridiculous ritual of stopping the toll for a brief moment to make sure the maneuever is legal. Ordinarily any Republican governor that raises taxes on his constituents without their consent would automatically be classified as a Moderate Republican but since the Governor once promoted a prayer vigil to fight Georgia’s drought there is a stark contradiction. Governor Perdue does not fit the old model; he is clearly a shining example of Georgia’s new species, the Tax and Spend Republican.

As with any ecosystem the introduction of a new species threatens the delicate balance which allowed other indigenous species to thrive. In this case the Tax and Spenders are a serious threat to the Republican party of Georgia. These Tax and Spenders are even planning to add another one percent sales tax during the worst economy of our lifetimes. The situation is critical and it is important that Georgia Republicans identify the members of this new species and stop the damage being done to their state and their party. Hopefully it is not too late.