Systems breakdowns
Founding UNC President Bill Friday was fond of boasting that our universities were the “crown jewels” of our state. Friday welcomed the restructuring of all public universities into a consolidated... Read More
My Spin by Tom Campbell
Stormy Weather
No doubt you’ve seen the devastation Hurricane Harvey wreaked in Texas. Sure as September, we are in the midst of storm season and all eyes are now glued to the latest projections on Hurricanes Irma... Read More
No Judicial redistricting in special session
Representative Justin Burr obviously has a burr under his saddle, almost single-handedly leading an effort to redistrict the judicial and prosecutorial districts in our state. In the closing days of... Read More
The Cycle of Revenge
My Methodist pastor wife, Lib Campbell, delivered a sermon last week that deserves our attention right now. As her text she used the familiar Old Testament story about Joseph being reunited with his... Read More
Out of the box thinking for rural North Carolina
The plight of rural North Carolina, like the weather, generates lots of talk but little action. Conditions in the rural east and west continue to deteriorate while urban and suburban areas are... Read More
Who should make state investment decisions?
Many of us have a 401-k plan, a pension or private investment portfolio. We often seek investment advice from stock brokers, money managers, newsletters, tips from friends or our own research, but... Read More
Judges made three correct decisions
Monday’s redistricting verdict issued by a panel of three federal court judges was correct in three important elements. The panel ruled that legislators had dragged their feet redrawing legislative... Read More
Congess needs to come home and stay
In their fervor to repeal and replace Obamacare, our Congress has run head first into a wall of political reality: once you extend benefits to people it is almost impossible to take them away. Despite... Read More
The war on media needs to be de-escalated
Many of us remember North Carolina Senator Jesse Helms’ war against CBS news, complaining the “liberal press” consisted of, “men and women who, if they do not hate American virtues…certainly... Read More
Are we a nation of vanishing adults?
Peter Pan never grew up and there is evidence we have a generation of many young people who, like Pan, are stranded in Neverland. Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse’s interesting book, The Vanishing... Read More
