6 Things Moral Monday Protestors get wrong
Published May 20, 2014
by Jim Tynen, Civitas Online, May 19, 2014.
The Monday protesters were back again, and this time they're even more wrong than they were the last time.
Last year many of the reforms planned by the General Assembly hadn't yet taken effect. When the protesters reviled them as disastrous and cruel, there was at least a theoretical chance they would be proven right. But they were proven wrong. Let's look at some of the ways.
Last year and on Monday, speakers claimed the legislature's plans would bring economic calamity. Monday, NAACP head William Barber mocked Gov. Pat McCrory's statement that "we had a heck of a year" by saying, "It wasn't a heck of a year, it was a hell of a year!" He added, "It's not a Carolina Comeback, it's a Carolina Setback!"
Wrong. Since the General Assembly cut off the extended federal unemployment benefits, the jobless rate has plunged. As Civitas Policy Director Brian Balfour (and others) pointed out in a press conference before today's show, since the changes in unemployment — which basically just took the state back to where it was — the unemployment rate has fallen for 10 straight months. It was then one of the highest in the nation; now it's below the national average.
Monday, a refrain was that the tax cuts were Republican giveaways for the rich.
Wrong. Tax cuts began in 2011, when the sales tax was cut — providing cuts for everyone in the state. The 2013 tax reforms broadly cut taxes; in fact, some wealthy people wound up paying more in taxes.
The immediate take is beside the point anyway. Taken together, the reforms have already made NC more attractive to businesses. That's surely a factor propelling the growth in the economy.
Monday protesters said last year and Monday that the refusal to accept Medicaid extension under Obamacare is imperiling the health of North Carolinians.
Wrong. Medicaid in fact does little or nothing for the health of poor people. A study of health outcomes of Medicaid patients in Oregon showed that — or worse.
Some of the speakers said that Medicaid at least keeps people from showing up at the emergency room.
Wrong. Now it turns out that Medicaid patients use the emergency room more.
Monday and last year protesters said the new legislative majority, who happen to be Republicans, hurt North Carolina. Referring to GOP leaders, Barber thundered, "You made it worse than it was before you got here."
Wrong. Or least, if NC was worse off it was when its unemployment rate was above the national average. Or worse than it was when the Democrats and Progressives fostered racial segregation. Or worse than when the state Eugenics Board sterilized thousands of people.
Monday, liberal activist Bob Hall said the new voter reforms such as voter ID had kept people from the polls.
Wrong. Here he had to tell outright lies. He railed against the voter ID requirement, which doesn't even go into effect until 2016. As for suppressing the vote — another favorite Monday wail — this year the primary vote increased compared to the voting in the most comparable year, the 2010 voting, also a midterm election.
May 20, 2014 at 10:25 am
TP Wohlford says:
1. First wrong clam: That Moral Monday will matter. By the end of the war, the only thing less popular than the Vietnam war was the Vietnam protester. The "Occupy" people started off with support, but well-publicized incidents and a horribly scattered message lost them support among the Dem political structure, and we don't see much evidence that they even existed today. So will be the case with these guys -- we are one clogged artery, or one scandal, away from this entire thing dying as the leader is neutralized.
2. Conversely, the TEA people have had a profound impact. You don't see earmarks anymore in Congress. You don't see election-time gov't grants to win votes. The only discussion in DC is how little/much we can cut the budget in areas where it can be cut -- and that includes the military. The Obama-Reid-Pelosi express was stopped. And new TEA-friendly big money now flows into the system.
May 20, 2014 at 11:10 am
Norm Kelly says:
The imMoral Monday protest speakers don't have to be right on ANY issue.
Reasons.
First, they are speaking with like minded people, those who already distrust because they automatically oppose Republicans.
Second, they are speaking to people inclined to vote for the demons anyway, so they believe what the libs tell them, without question.
Third, they are speaking to the average low-information voter. These people don't know any better, don't know anything other than what they hear while at the rallies, so the speakers can say just about anything and they won't be questioned. We know this is true because some of those who attend the rallies then write letters to the editor spewing the insanity they heard at the rally.
Fourth, facts are meaningless to most of the people in the audience. The speakers have proven that facts are completely meaningless to them. But this is typical for all low-information voters, and for most libs and almost all demoncrat party candidates/pols.
If the media would simply ask a few questions of the buffet slayer, he would disappear soon enough. But instead of asking ANY questions of the man, they simply report about what a great social activist he is. What proof does he have of any voter suppression by the Republican legislature? He could not answer this.
How has a reduced unemployment rate negatively affected unemployed people? He could not answer.
How does making NC a more friendly business environment, helping to entice businesses here to hire people by having a more level playing field, not penalizing success, actually hurt unemployed people? Not able to answer.
Instead of the state giving tax breaks to only certain chosen businesses for doing business here in our state, but attempting to create a more level playing field for all businesses, doesn't this make for an environment where business might actually want to do business here? And if this is true (which it is!), then wouldn't that help reduce unemployment? And if unemployment were reduced, wouldn't that help 'your people' even more than increased social government give-away programs? (note: none of these would ever be asked by anyone in the media because it would be perceived as a racist rant) But the answer wouldn't be possible by the buffet slayer because it would shoot his entire argument; eliminate him from the public stage; prove he's a buffoon.
And for some reason that escapes thinking people, instead of showing the leader of the imMoral Monday protests as a buffoon, a racist, a race baiter, the socialist that he is, the media non-news types would rather have something to talk about. Not something useful, just something. And the more the media types talk about the nonsense of the protest leaders, the more the low information voters hate the Republican legislators. The more people who dislike the Republicans leading us in the right and proper direction, the more low information liberal democRAT voters they hope to stir to the polls in November.
