Standing in the schoolhouse door
Published June 13, 2015
by Thomas Mills, Politics North Carolina, June 12, 2015.
With the override of Pat McCrory’s veto of Senate Bill 2, the rebranding of North Carolina that McCrory promised when he took office is complete. We’re no longer that enlightened Southern state that was a destination for high tech companies and tourists. We’re now another Southern backwater full of narrow-minded, anti-intellectual hicks. It’s been a dramatic transformation.
The first hint of upheaval began when the Senate made it clear in 2013 that North Carolina wouldn’t extend Medicaid or build a state exchange for Obamacare, regardless of what McCrory or then-Speaker Thom Tillis wanted. It went down hill from there. A couple of legislators introduced a bill to institute a state religion. The bill didn’t pass but it made the country take notice that strange stuff was going on in North Carolina.
By the summer of 2013, people around the country were asking “What’s happening in North Carolina?” The New York Times wrote a scathing editorial titled “The Decline of North Carolina.” Moral Monday protests were drawing thousands of people to Raleigh and drawing national attention to cuts in education, restrictions on abortion, and efforts to limit access to the voting booth.
Conservatives blamed Democratic activists and the liberal media for the bad press. But they continued to raise eyebrows. The ouster of UNC President Tom Ross for no apparent reason sent shockwaves across the higher education community. One consultant charged with finding Ross’ replacement said, “Folks from Boston to Berkeley kept saying, ‘Jerry, what’s going on in North Carolina?’ It doesn’t feel right to people afar when they look at what we’re doing here.”
Meanwhile, McCrory and company are spouting “Carolina Comeback!” all over social media and at every press conference, trying to change the narrative. It hasn’t worked. We’re recovering from the recession like every other state in the nation but nobody’s looking at us as a model for recovery. On the contrary, they’re watching states like South Carolina get better press and land bigger companies than us.
The override of Senate Bill 2 completes the rebranding. While society and states across the nation are more accepting of the LGBT community, North Carolina is telling its citizens that it’s okay to discriminate. Instead of being the Southern state carefully navigating the changing social structure, we’re now the one standing in the schoolhouse door. That’s our brand today and that’s how history will remember us.
Ironically, McCrory rebranded himself as much as he rebranded the state. When he was elected, North Carolina and the nation thought he was a moderate force who would balance the most regressive instincts of the legislature and push a pro-business agenda while steering clear of social issues. Today, he’s seen as a hapless weakling who lacks the political conviction to make a solid argument and lacks the political skill to build support for an agenda.
Our new motto should be “Closed eyes, narrow-minds, can’t win.”
June 13, 2015 at 9:26 am
Richard L Bunce says:
Elections have consequences, the people have spoken.
June 13, 2015 at 9:31 am
Norm Kelly says:
'made the country take notice that strange stuff was going on in North Carolina'. Not really strange stuff. NC is simply joining other parts of the country in rejecting 'progressivism'. What's the one thing libs have been whining about since Republicans took over Raleigh? Better worded: what's one more thing libs have been whining about since voters put Republicans in the majority in Raleigh? It's hard to answer because the default response to EVERYTHING by libs is to whine! In this case I'm referring to the rejection by a majority of voters of the progressive agenda of the left.
What libs whine about as 'strange stuff' others who have the ability to read the writing on the wall refer to as basic common sense. When libs decided to go along with central planners and extend unemployment benefits again, putting the state in debt to the central planners, without a plan to repay the debt, was this good for the state or bad? Well, a majority of voters agreed that it was bad. Because it WAS BAD!
When libs went along with the unqualified community organizer occupier on high speed rail, and took a small grant from central planners to implement this waste of time & money, the majority of voters decided this truly was a waste of time & money. Why did libs in Raleigh go along with this outrageously ridiculous plan? Because and only because they are libs and didn't want to spit in the eye of their unqualified leader. It would look bad! How much time will be saved on the high-speed rail line? Extremely minor. How much will it cost? So much more than the grant from central planners as to make the idea so stup1d as to be incomprehensible to everyone except the most die-hard lib insider. High speed rail is outrageously expensive, and something our state can't afford any more than any other state can afford. And it will never be paid for nor pay for itself. Never. Yet libs went along with this idea. And it was rejected by voters.
When libs decided to purchase a lake-rated ferry to transport school kids from outerbanks to on-land schools, did it serve a purpose or was it just another example of fraud & abuse by lib pols? Trick question! A majority of voters rejected 'progressivism' in this case also. The lake-rated ferry was a tremendous, costly boondoggle that can't be explained by rational people.
Even with the changes to voting laws implemented in NC, our laws are still less restrictive than in areas such as New York. That liberal bastion is MORE restrictive than we are. So, how many libs are whining about NY? How many black 'leaders' are whining about racial injustice in New York? When will the rev buffet slayer march on NY to protest the obvious disenfranchisement of 'his people'? Answer: never because the libs that run NY are his allies, and libs NEVER protest themselves. Kinda like the N&D NOT informing readers that even after our voting law changes, we are still much more liberal than other states that are not protested.
Overall, Republicans MAY NOT be running Raleigh the way most conservatives want them to, but they are so much better than the liberal, 'progressive' alternative. We need to get some more true conservatives in both Raleigh and Washington, but at least we are moving in the right and proper direction. If we just do further right, NC will be a leader instead of a follower. Our economy will improve. And ALL citizens of the state will be better off. A good start was rejecting socialized medicine! Let's hope Republicans in Raleigh continue to have the fortitude to resist the temptation to implement socialized medicine. If socialized medicine is such a panacea, which lib has shown ANYWHERE in the world where it is successful? Better than our (old) system? Should we continue to use the VA Health system as a perfect example of how 'good' socialized medicine will be as suggested by lib proponents of socialized medicine? You know, those like K who actually wanted it to be changed to 'single payer' instead of ACA.
Enough celebration of 'progressivism'. It was not successful, and it's time libs admitted it. Or at least stop telling lies to residents!
June 15, 2015 at 9:36 am
Tom Hauck says:
The other replies are of course correct and in addition the left thinks it is better to deflect the public's thoughts from the no-classes academic corruption at UNC Chapel Hill than to explain that scandal -- led by the head of the Ethics Department. Can you imagine -- the ethics department?
June 15, 2015 at 3:34 pm
Curt Budd says:
Then let us vote on vouchers, or "parental choice", or however you want to spin it.
http://dianeravitch.net/2015/03/29/how-does-the-public-feel-about-vouchers/
June 16, 2015 at 11:39 am
Richard L Bunce says:
We already did when we elected the current NC Legislature and Governor... you know, a Constitutional Republic.
