The Confederate flag debate has come to North Carolina. We might not fly the battle flag on the capitol grounds or embed it in our state flag, but we do put it on license plates for the Sons of the Confederacy. Now, Pat McCrory wants it taken off the menu of specialty plates the state offers.
McCrory called on the legislature to act to stop producing the plate. However, Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger says that the governor can do that himself. The governor doesn’t believe he has that authority.
McCrory, for his part, is trying to reach for the middle, defining himself as a moderate in the lead up to the 2016 election. He spent his first two years getting run over by their legislature and rubber stamping extreme measures coming out of the GOP legislature. In 2013, Nate Silver found McCrory to be the 9th most conservative governor in the country. Now, he needs to redefine himself as more mainstream and the flag debate can help that effort.
Berger, though, knows he probably can’t get his caucus to discontinue the plate. With so many rural conservatives, the Senate is likely full of Confederate apologists or at least a lot of members scared of angering the voters in their districts who are. Berger’s not about to bring the matter up for a vote if it can’t pass.
McCrory obviously didn’t talk to legislative leaders before he called for removing the plate. If he can’t stop the plate with executive action, Republicans face another embarrassing situation. The legislature lacks the votes to end state production of a symbol most people, especially those outside of the South, consider racist. That’s not the image the state wants to project when it’s trying to recruit business from across the globe. And if the legislature refuses to address the issue, McCrory looks weak, not moderate.
Democrats should be pushing the issue. Instead of McCrory defining himself as a moderate, Democrats should be exposing the North Carolina Republicans as the party of extremists. The GOP has been using racist dog whistles since the Civil Rights Movement to motivate their base. Now, Democrats have an opportunity to force them to pay a price instead of reap a benefit. The longer the conversation continues, the more likely some Republican will say something damaging.
If Democrats hope to get back in control of the state, they need to take some risks and force some errors. They have an opportunity now. They should take it.
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 >
Getting the Democrats to take risks and force issues, I can barely go on.
Clearly, everything Pat McCrory has done in the recent past indicates his appeal to the middle. Truly his veto of the gay marriage bill which allowed magistrates to refuse to marry gay people is commendable. Given the fact, however, the US Supreme Court’s decision to permit gay marriage in all states makes that statement a little bit lame. McCrory is not dumb, he knew his veto would be overridden but he could use this as an example of reaching out to moderates. His view on the license plate can be viewed in the same vein, in which the prohibition of them is a foregone conclusion. Use his power as chief executive of the state and issue an order forbidding them!
Love will triumph over hate in the long run.
Gareoh
Why don’t the Dems do the really important thing and go after the Republicans on the guns issues.
BAN THE FALG IN NORTH CAROLINA OR JUST PLAIN OUTLAW IT.
Free speech, not favored speech, is essential to the maintenance of democracy.
You are right. This should be coming from the Dems as a opening salvo in the next election.
Political cowards, all! They’ll probably put it up for a special election vote! Don’t blame me – you voted for it!
Time for Governor McCrory to grow a pair. Issue the order to stop producing the plates and get on with it, especially since Berger has said publicly that the Governor has the authority.
I don’t think McCrory’s ability to “”grow a pair” is anatomically possible.