"You can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time...but you can't fool all of the people all of the time," President Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865.)

The evolving leadership crisis on our DeKalb County School board is largely coming down to a question of who do you trust.  Sadly, voters across the county, and with leanings in both political directions have a hard time answering that question.  Divided government may also deliver regular doses of 'gridlock,' but to some extent the competition of ideas, as well as for voters, can help keep the other side 'honest.'  Distrust of state government was in clear view in the results of the summer primary voting on the T-SPLOST, and then voters flipped that coin with the Charter Schools constitutional amendment in the November General Election.

And as the dust is still settling on both sides of both issues...there is without question a broadening deficit of trust, between voters and their elected officials in both parties.

With the GOP controlling the Governor and Lieutenant Governor's offices, and a virtual lock on Georgia's Constitutional offices, now might be the time for the GOP to implement its long discussed reforms of a trimmer, more transparent and responsive state government, free of the graft, corruption and "friends and family" politics and alleged contract awarding of their predecessors.  Republican appointed stalwarts helm nearly every state agency and outpost, and the party is making further inroads each municipal election year...taking over a majority on county commissions, city councils and local offices such as Sheriff. 

But all that said, there is an eerie feeling of unease, not unlike what one felt during 2006 in Washington before the mid-term elections which swept the GOP out of power.  The GOP Congress, first elected in 1994 with their Contract for America, were actually 'about something' larger than their own member wins.  The Contract promised eight rather sweeping reforms, ranging from ending the Estate Tax to requiring that members of Congress abide by all the laws which they passed to effect the American people.  But by 2006, only three of the ten bills introduced in the U.S. House to make the Contract real had been passed into law.  Most voters, including this one, had a hard time understanding the challenge of passing these acts into law, when the GOP held all the keys, levers and throttles of power.  So, when the GOP Congress spent like the boys did under Tip O'Neil, and laid waste to a number of other longtime conservative Republican faithful tenets...voters, including many self-proclaimed Republicans began some record 'house-cleaning' in 2006.

Here in Georgia, the summer Transportation T-SPLOST was beaten back in all but three regions of the state by margins of nearly three to one.  A similar margin among voters now exists in opposition to building a new billion plus playground for the Atlanta Falcons, and their billionaire owner, Arthur Blank.  Strangely even during a season when the words "Super Bowl" and "Falcons" are not seen as antonyms...voters still note the recession, lagging job creation and other priorities as more pressing concerns.

Time and again during the T-SPLOST debacle, voters spoken of the broken promises regarding the Georgia 400 toll, and the horrific implementation of HOT lanes on I-85 North.  These two badly managed traffic flow decisions helped cause thousands of commuters to not trust that their state and local officials can actually deliver transportation solutions which work.  Criticize Georgia Democrats all you like, but when they ran the show, Georgia's interstates and transportation network were among the envy of the nation.

Budgets are tighter, and our double-digit growth has long since slowed.  Some of the challenges we currently face were brought on by the global recession.  But there are states climbing out of the hole.  There are states where bi-partisan leadership and development of common sense solutions actually occur.  There are legislative leaders, even in Washington, D.C. who understand that they may not always be the smartest guys in the room.  Breaking trust can occur in minutes, or with one foolish act or poor choice.  Re-building trust can take years, even decades.  Just ask former Governor Roy Barnes about the state flag, or his relationship with Georgia teachers at the end of his first term.  The fall from grace can be fast, and is almost always far from graceful.