A large, well-to-do, white area of Baton Rouge, the state capital of Louisiana, was given permission by the state Supreme Court to break away from the city and start its own city, to be called St. George. That's named after a previous, lost city in the state, but I wouldn't be surprised if there is an allusion to the legendary knight who fought and defeated a dragon. In this case, I suspect "the dragon" to them is the majority of citizens of Baton Rouge, the majority of whom are not white. As the New York Times described the new logistics, "The city will consist of an area of East Baton Rouge Parish, which is run by a blended government that oversees both Baton Rouge and the broader parish. It also carves out a largely white and more affluent section of the parish, southeast of Baton Rouge." St. George will have a population of over 100,000, making it the fourth largest city. The blow to Baton Rouge is that a significant part of its tax base is now gone. The blow to the state and the country is the message that if you live in a democracy and don't like how the majority rules and it has people of a different color that you don't like, you can ignore the standards the rest of people in a democracy live by, trying to create a majority of those who agree with you, trying to reach agreements and compromises with those you live with and must get along with, and ignore election results, say they don't apply to us and have your middle finger ready to show how you plan to screw them all. The city council of Baton Rouge has needless-to-say been upset, though the major has been impressively conciliatory. Hoping to work together with St. George (for whom the concept of "working together" seems alien), hoping that one day -- ideally soon -- the two cities can be joined again. The main complaints of the affluent white residents of St. George has been the school board, apparently teaching things they don't like or believe in, like maybe (for all I know) science, and crime. I have no idea how the whole school thing will go, but if they think crime will ignore St. George because creating your own city magically builds an invisible force field around you, they will likely be very disappointed. Perhaps crime will go down -- perhaps, too, being in the exact same physical location they were before, nothing will change. There is a question of how essential services will be paid for in St. George. Some believe the tax base will suffice, others have shown statistics that that is not the case at all. Baton Rouge has said that they will provide some services, like (for now) police services, though those will of course have be paid for. It's too early to know how this will work out. For both cities. There are a great many unknowns. The only thing that's clear is that this action is pure MAGOP. It's ignoring how democracy works, it's outrage at not getting your own way, it's white privilege, it's ignoring election results, and it has enough racism built in as a final MAGOP touch.
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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