Hang onto your wallets, folks,

the state Legislature's in session.

So the old saying goes.

Some would say it's not so

appropriate anymore. The governor and the folks under the Gold Dome have

been in quite a tax cutting mood the last few years.

They've cut property taxes,

unemployment taxes, sales taxes for food...

I haven't actually seen any

of those property tax reductions myself. I hear they've increased the

homestead exemption, but when I get my bill I don't see any evidence of

it. Must be a matter of interpretation.

Personally, I would prefer

a tax cut I can see, taste, touch and feel, like an across-the-board income

tax cut. But thank heaven for small favors. At least income taxes aren't

going up... yet.

Regardless of these phantom

tax cuts, though, the question of whether the state government is being

fiscally responsible is not purely a matter of taxes. It's a matter of

whether the Legislature is spending any more of your and my tax money

than is absolutely necessary.

On that point, I submit, the

old saying still goes.

From what I've seen in the

last year, the current fashion seems to be to come up with a crisis and

create a commission for every issue one can think of.

The commission will then do

exactly the same thing that the old committee, commission or agency that's

been there for a hundred years did, but with more publicity.

Of course, the old commission

is still around, still spending money. The new one just spends more.

The commissions go on junkets

and conduct hearings to study the issues they were created to oversee,

and of course all of that costs money. But the real cost comes when the

commissions issue their edicts, and business owners and their hard-working

employees have to step to the music, usually to the beat of a new, improved,

souped-up, modernized, turbocharged set of regulations that cost twice

as much to comply with as the old ones did.

There will be voices calling

for restraint, but if the past is any indication, they'll be drowned out.

Meanwhile, there are some issues

that need some real, honest attention. They've been mentioned in news

articles, but whether anything will really be done remains to be seen.

For instance, what will actually

happen on the state flag?

I'm aware this is a sensitive

issue, and I respect those who want to hang onto the old flag as a symbol

of sacrifice and commitment. But I would ask those people to try I know

it's difficult, but try to put themselves in the shoes of black Georgians.

Can you honestly say that the

Confederate battle emblem wouldn't inspire in you the same feelings that

the swastika would inspire in a Jewish person or for that matter, in a

U.S. veteran of WWII if you were black?

It's not the most important

issue on the agenda, to be sure. It's just a symbol. But as a symbol,

the state flag should not be something that is offensive to a third of

the people in the state.

I don't for one minute advocate

wiping the St. Andrews Cross out of our consciousness. It's part of history,

and it can certainly have its place in Confederate cemeteries and alongside

monuments. But on the state flag, we need to look forward.

Education will continue to

be the most important issue, and it will receive the most attention the

most sound and fury. They say if you toss up enough spaghetti, some of

it will stick on the ceiling. Let's hope that with all the "solutions"

that will be tossed up by the Legislature, some of them will stick and

do some good.

Let's watch and see whether

our representatives have the courage to do anything meaningful about the

carnage on our highways, much of it caused by the carelessness with which

we toss the keys to our young people.

We need a real, meaningful

test for the drivers' license, mandatory training, a minimum driving age

of 17 with learner permits continuing for both 15- and 16-year-olds, and

restrictions on time of day and number of passengers for new drivers.

Personally, I plan to study

how my representatives vote on this issue, and vote accordingly next election.

One big item on the agenda

this session that is rarely mentioned when you ask legislators what they're

concentrating on is reapportionment.

The U.S. Census has given us

two new congressional seats, which means that all the existing districts

will have to be redrawn to make room for the new ones.

This is usually quite a show,

as those in power come up with some of the most tortured geographical

divisions you can imagine. Their goal will not be to draw the districts

in as sensible a manner as possible, but to ensure as many seats as possible

go to their party.

For instance, if you've got

a district that's 80 percent Democratic surrounded by districts that are

55 percent Republican, the game is to draw the districts so that the 80

percent Democratic district drops to 60 or 70 percent and one or two of

the Republican districts changes to Democratic.

If Republicans were in power,

believe me, the goal of the exercise would be reversed.

On top of all that, there will

be pressure from civil rights groups to go to great pains to increase

the number of districts in which minorities can easily be elected.

It should be an interesting

session.