An Aspirational North Carolina

If you told me 20 years ago that I’d be spending roughly one week every year in Orlando, Florida, with my family visiting Disney parks, I’d have said you were out of your mind. And yet, that’s exactly what we do. The first time our nuclear family visited Disney, my son was headed into kindergarten, and I ugly cried the day we left. I cried because it was 2023 and we’d spent the previous six years dealing with an infant, cancer, a pandemic, an interstate move, four funerals, health scares with relatives, all while trying to work full time and be faithful church members. “Absolutely exhausted” doesn’t come close to describing our state of existence prior to that trip.  

Our week at Walt Disney World was the first time we stopped thinking about any of those other things. And when I broke down in tears packing our bags to leave, it was because I knew I would cherish those five days as some of the best days we’d ever had with each other.  

I’ve spent the last few years trying to unpack this. I wouldn’t say we’re Disney-obsessed, but it certainly holds a very special place in my heart. And we’re always asking each other: “So when are we going back to Disney?” 

It’s not lost on me that we’re among the privileged few who can even consider a trip like this, much less return. Disney is aspirational. But Disney is also uniquely American.  

Walt Disney was a pioneer of his time because he made it his life’s work to imagine a world that didn’t exist. At age 17, Walt drove an ambulance for the Red Cross in France shortly after the World War I armistice went into effect. He spent the roaring 20s as a young adult watching the world change in ways that formed the foundation for the global society that took shape following World War II.  

The Disney conglomerate gets a bad reputation for a number of reasons. The amusement parks are financially inaccessible. Its movies and story lines send children the wrong message about strength. It’s too woke or not woke enough — and the list goes on. But that’s not the point. The point of Disney is to inspire you to think about what the world could look like, not to dwell on what it is and accept reality without challenge. 

This sentiment is uniquely American. It’s no surprise to me that it was an American who created the Walt Disney Company, and it’s no surprise to me that it’s regularly ranked as one of the most successful American companies ever built.  

250 years ago, America was founded on an aspiration. The Pilgrims landed in New England because they aspired to live differently than what was available to them under King James. Consider what might have transpired if our Founding Fathers said, “You know what, this is good enough.”  

At every inflection point in American history, someone dared to imagine a world that didn’t exist. They dared to imagine a reality that seemed absolutely insane.  

Now, I’m not suggesting that one day we’ll have talking snowmen running around (Olaf, anyone?). But, I think the overall message is more than clear. The world as we know it does not have to remain if we’re not happy with it. We have the power and the ability to shape a different reality.  

For me, a different reality for North Carolina is one where businesses aren’t penalized for being successful (read about the North Carolina Franchise Tax here). Other policy changes we can aspire to are passing a state budget and repealing Certificate of Need laws to expand health care access and reduce costs for consumers, especially in rural parts of the state. And work has already begun on other goals, like open enrollment and property tax reform, so let’s see it through. 

These policy changes may be aspirational, but accepting the status quo doesn’t achieve the kind of liberty that once defined the Old North State that dared to be First in Freedom with the Halifax Resolves on April 12, 1776.  

North Carolina already offers America an aspirational lifestyle — census data found that NC ranks third for the highest rate of in-bound migration since April 2020. But we can, and should, keep aspiring to more. Imagine a world that doesn’t exist, and realize that some elements are well within our grasp if we continue to insist that good enough is not, in fact, good enough.