The fallout from House Bill 2 is starting to hit North Carolina hard. Last week, the NBA announce that it is moving the All-star game out of Charlotte. Other sporting events may follow suit and many more are taking a pass on the state for future events.
Republicans, though, don’t care. House Bill 2 is about politics and keeping control of the state is more important than the bill’s economic impact. They’re betting support for the measure will drive their voters to the polls.
Nowhere is this more evident than in Pat McCrory’s response to the All-star game leaving Charlotte. McCrory blasted the “sports and entertainment elite, Attorney General Roy Cooper and the liberal media” for the loss of revenue. He also claimed the “corporate elite” is trying to circumvent the democratic process to impose their will on local communities. That’s really quite funny since McCrory and the legislature overruled local authorities to start this mess.
Nonetheless, McCrory is talking to Trump voters in Trump language. McCrory and the GOP may have complete control of state government but they’re running as outsiders being attacked by an elitist corporate establishment. McCrory is doubling down on discrimination in order to energize his base.
McCrory has undergone a remarkable transformation. He was elected as the moderate mayor of Charlotte who came from Duke Energy, the most corporate of environments. After years of getting beat up by the legislature, he’s become a fire-breathing populist and culture warrior. Trump has taken over the Republican Party and Pat McCrory is right on board.
This election in North Carolina is really going to tell us a lot about the state. The battle lines couldn’t be more clear from the top of the ticket to the bottom.
Democrats argue that government is broken and ineffective because it’s been taken over by ideologues from the right. In Washington, they’ve shut down government, can’t pass a budget, and have failed to address the pressing needs of the country. In North Carolina, they’re big government conservatives who restrict local control, pass discriminatory legislation, and shift the tax burden onto the backs of the working class. Democrats say they want to make government work for people.
McCrory and the legislative leadership are tapping into the resentment against a government that’s beholden to corporate and media elites. They’re less interested in making government work than defeating the elitists who are ruining our country and imposing cultural change. They’ve embrace the us-against-them language of Donald Trump. Instead of offering hope and remedies, their appealing to anger and resentment.
In November, we’ll find out what kind of leaders people want for our state and nation. Do they want a more authoritarian government, willing to marginalize certain people and curtail our rights for the sake of safety? Or do they prefer leaders who want to fix government to make it more inclusive and effective? It’s a stark choice—and a scary one.
Thomas Mills is the founder and publisher of PoliticsNC.com. Before beginning PoliticsNC, Thomas spent twenty years as a political and public affairs consultant. Learn more >
My little game? Do you really think I have that much influence? LOL
I think you meant the 4th Circuit. That was to be expected when three Democrat judges were appointed to hear the appeal. But you’re right, the 4th Circuit has been taken over by the radical left and election and other GOP-supported reforms will face tough sledding unless a conservative is appointed to fill Scalia’s spot on the Supreme Court.
“We are hoping your little game has inspired and given resolve to folks to get out and vote.” Your words. I guess you didn’t really mean what you wrote. LOL
That might be their intention, but their decision to play partisan politics with North Carolina will result in economic damage to the City of Charlotte. If the NBA is so sure that HB2 is unconstitutional, why wouldn’t they wait for the federal courts to rule before leaving the City in an economic lurch.
The VFW didn’t pull its convention out of Charlotte. Do you believe the VFW is ok with, as you put it, “ignorance, hate and bigotry.”
Day dream believin’ again, eh D.g? Here’s a dose of reality that can help put you back in touch with reality:
http://wraltechwire.com/report-nc-economy-surges-very-strong-3-4-/15730365/
That link is not to Fox, D.G. That’s WRAL, the Triangle TV station owned by well-known liberal Jim Goodman. Wake up and wise up before you make another mistaken assumption.
WRAL is an ABC or CBS affiliate, I forget which. It has no ties to Fox.
Even Hillary spoke in Charlotte yesterday. Maybe she realizes all the hoopla over HB2 is just partisan hype. Or do you think she values the potential votes from veterans enough to turn a blind eye to, in your words, “abetting bigotry, hate and intolerance?”
I am not pitting one organization against another, D.g. I am simply describing the current situation. The NBA knew it’s failure to honor its commitment to Charlotte would harm the local economy, but it pulled out anyway. The City and many of it’s businesses have paid a heavy price for its leaders’ succumbing to the demands of the radical left.
Just in the last two weeks, there have been announcements of seven new corporate facilities locating in NC cities and towns like, Madien, Hickory, Mebane and Rocky Mount. While the NC economy continues to experience sustained economic growth, the militant liberals on the Charlotte City Council threaten to sully the city’s pro business reputation by kowtowing to left wing advocacy groups like the HRC.
North Carolinians thought they voted for a moderate conservative who would work to improve the economy. What they got instead was a fool who can’t do math. He’s got to go.
Today’s big NC news. The VFW is holding their NATIONAL convention in Charlotte! Guess they haven’t heard about HB2? And even Hillary will be there.
Charlotte city leaders and NC Democrats can learn an important lesson from hosting the VFW. Cater to patriotic organizations not pushing a politically correct “progressive” agenda and they, in turn, will support the local economy. Don’t try to curry favor with liberal advocacy groups and big national organizations more interested in advancing far left political causes than they are in promoting the city’s economic vitality.
D.g., which organization would you rather have promoting your American city—the mercurial National Basketball Association or the patriotic Veterans of Foreign Wars? The NBA pulled out and left Charlotte businesses high and dry to support a political agenda. The VFW honored its commitment to the City and advanced patriotism over politics.
So you’re ok with an organization deliberately trying to economically punish the City of Charlotte to promote a leftist political cause? And when that is pointed out, you respond with a vitriolic rant against those who don’t share your views. A perfect example of intolerance.
Leftist organization? Have you ever heard of the National Basketball Association where you live?
L. A. Clippers were recently bought for $2 billion dollars by Steve Ballmer who is worth $20 billion. Like every other owner of an NBA franchise, Ballmer has never been a Communist; he is one of the great American business success stories having built Microsoft into the most powerful software company in the world.
The Atlanta Hawks franchise was purchased by Tony Ressler’s investment group last year. Ressler is an American businessman. He co-founded the private equity firm Apollo Global Management in 1990; and co-founded the private equity firm Ares Management in 1997. Ressler, like the other NBA owners, is a capitalist who is very good at it.
The Golden State Warriors are owned by several investors, but the principal investor is Joe Lacob. Lacob has been a partner at Kleiner Perkins, a Venture capital investing firm, since 1987. He is very good at Capitalism.
You can look up the rest of the teams on your own.
The 30 NBA franchises are worth billions of dollars and so are each of the owners of the teams. The NBA is owned by some of the country’s most successful businessmen, many of whom are very conservative, but unlike our governor and our legislature, they are very smart and good with money.
Leftists are not to blame for the losses being suffered by North Carolina’s business community. A ridiculous and ill-considered, unenforceable racist law is. Conservatives are always looking for someone else to blame when something goes badly wrong. They like to blame liberals for everything. The billionaires at the forefront of American business have not conspired against North Carolina. North Carolina’s idiotic leaders have done it to us, and they are too corrupt to admit error and begin to repair the damage they have caused.
Hear! Hear!
McCrory resembles a populist in the same way monarchs and their extended families resembled the people who fought their wars. “We need to save our country from the (insert inflated threat here)!” “If you do not fight for me and help me win, none of us will ever be safe!” The monarchs and their families were living a life fairly well insulated from the travails of their “people.” If they won their battles, the people (the ones who survived after dying in huge numbers in the front lines) would go back to starving, plowing the fields, raising the new generation of arrow fodder. If they lost, they were often related to the monarchs they were fighting, so a little humble pie and back to work oppressing the starving multitudes.
Voters in this country will never get a better government unless they stop voting against their own best interests. Yes, you MAY become a millionaire or billionaire, but the odds are against you and are worse than the hundreds of thousands of under-educated adolescents who hope that they will join the NFL or NBA. But before you become rich and famous and insulated from the life you once lived, vote for an outcome that makes sense now.
Maybe Pat should get himself anointed Baron, Lord of the Carolinas by his Majesty, Donald the Malignant when he ascends the throne.
That might open a few eyes. I doubt it, but maybe.
You’re not wrong; people have to vote. The scariest thing I saw this week was Micheal Moore (and they just don’t come any more liberally idealized) predict Donald Trump to be the next President.
Something some people would chuckle at as being next to impossible. In fact, I’ve seen those very words used here. Except, it isn’t impossible any more. It has a high probability factor of happening. All it takes is for good people to do nothing.
And if Trump wins, we know who else will in this State.