Dismantling a legacy of progress

by | Sep 11, 2017 | Editor's Blog, North Carolina, Politics | 10 comments

Republicans have been bad for North Carolina, especially its reputation. For decades, the state was seen as a bastion of moderation that attracted industry, housed a world-class public university system, balanced development and environmental responsibility, and welcomed people openly. That perception began to change rapidly when the GOP took control of the legislature in 2011.

Republicans sent a message to Muslims that they’re not welcome by passing a law banning Sharia Law, despite no evidence that Sharia posed a threat. They put a constitutional amendment on the ballot to ban marriage, the only time we’ve used the constitution to strip people of rights instead of expanding them. They passed a bill allowing magistrates to opt out of marrying gay couples and they passed the notorious HB2 to further restrict the rights of LGBT citizens.

Republicans reduced funding to public schools while using taxpayer dollars to subsidize private education. Our teachers became among the lowest paid in the nation and per pupil spending shrank dramatically. Today, an unfunded mandate on elementary schools is leaving schools without art and music classrooms.

The GOP clearly targeted African-Americans to reduce their influence in voting and in governing. They passed the massive voter suppression law that the courts found targeted African-Americans with “surgical precisions.” They proudly drew the most egregiously gerrymandered districts in the country, giving themselves a veto proof majority in a state that’s evenly divided. And then, just to make sure African-Americans got the message, they passed a bill to protect monuments to the Confederacy.

The most damaging legacy of the GOP, though, will be the assault on the UNC system. The university has been the state’s crown jewel, attracting business and industry, providing for social mobility, and enhancing our national reputation. In response, the GOP fired the well-respected president, Tom Ross, without ever disclosing a reason other than that he was a Democrat. Last week, against the advice of lawyers, academics from across the nation, and the University administration, the GOP led Board of Governors killed the UNC Center for Civil Rights. The move will certainly harm the reputation of the UNC School of Law, but it sends a more ominous message to people considering working for or attending UNC: ideologues are in control and nobody’s work is safe. And now, they’re trying to micromanage the system, giving marching orders to the UNC president and school chancellors. They’re pushing an ideological agenda that might have a devastating impact on UNC.

The GOP is reversing the progress North Carolina has made. If they had been in power from 1960 to 2010, we wouldn’t be the state we are today. We wouldn’t have the Research Triangle Park because they certainly wouldn’t have invested in a public/private partnership of that scale. We wouldn’t have the UNC system we have today because they wouldn’t have built the consolidated university that made our public system among the best in the nation. And we certainly would not have the community college system we have today because there’s no way in hell they would have added the sales tax it took to pay for it.

No, if Republicans had had their way, North Carolina would have remained the Southern backwater it was in 1959. It took men of vision like Luther Hodges, Terry Sanford and Bill Friday to build a state with ambition and goals. Republicans have no leaders like that and they’re quickly trying to dismantle the progress we’ve made.

10 Comments

  1. ebrun

    North Carolina’s reputation has suffered under Republican leadership? What a totally false and disingenuous claim that is belied by basic statistics of recent economic and demographic trends. The state continues to attract new residents and businesses. Several national business publicans rank NC among the top states for new business locations and investment.

    Net migration of new residents to NC continues to be in the top several among the 50 states and new job creation is well above the national average. And contrary to misinformation from the liberal interest groups and the Democratic Party, there has been a net in migration of certified public schools teachers from other states to take teaching positions in NC, according to data from the DPI.

    Last fall, the McCrory Administration announced that the 2018 World Equestrian Games will be held at the Tryon Equestrian Center in Polk County. This event, to be held over 13 days next September, is one of the biggest events on the global sporting calendar and will attract thousands of visitors from the U.S and foreign countries and have a positive economic impact on communities from Charlotte to Asheville and beyond.

    So anxious are left wing pundits to besmirch the state’s reputation since the GOP took political control in NC that they resort to demonstrably false claims about funding for public schools, which has been steadily increased by the Republican-controlled General Assembly.

    In short, since the the left has lost political power here, the state has prospered and continues to attract new residents and businesses. Left out in the political cold, liberal pundits and interest groups resort to false claims in a disingenuous attempt to disparage the state under GOP control. Such propaganda might go down well in the editorial offices of the NY Times and among liberal regimes in academia and on the left coast, but does nothing to halt the continued influx of people and businesses to the Old North State.

    • Jay Ligon

      Not since Richard III cried out: “A horse, a horse! My kingdom for a horse” has the value of equestrian flesh been offered for a high price.

      A glance up and down the boulevards of every major North Carolina city reveals nary a nag, but Ebrun would have us believe that the Old North State is the center of the universe because there will be horses in Polk County some time next year. The loss of NCAA tournaments, ACC tournaments or the NBA pale by comparison because there will be horses in 2018. The Fortune 1000 companies and every professional and collegiate organization shunned the state while HB2 was the law, but there will be actual horses.

      Citing population data, Ebrun claims that the state is a Mecca for business because Republicans are so darn good for business.
      Well, census data is collected every 10 years. The last census was 2010 when the data would have reflected the impact of Democratic leadership in North Carolina because Republicans did not take control until after 2010. We will not have another census until 2020.

      It is true that Forbes and The Wall Street Journal have cited North Carolina as one of the best places to do business in the United States – for decades. The infrastructure and the reputation of the state were built under Democratic majorities.

      The GOP went into attack mode against our schools, cutting the budget and eliminating teachers’ assistants. When the average pay hit bottom and our teachers began to leave in droves, the legislature raised their pay some. The GOP should know that mothers will not bring their children to a state offering the worst schools when other states will give their children a better chance at life. Nor will the best teachers want to have a career in the place where they will be the worst paid. Our teachers were at the bottom quintile of the 50 states in teacher pay. But maybe they will change their minds when they find out about the horses.

      The GOP offers a vision of racism, separation of races, undemocratic and bizarre laws, mandatory adherence to a state-mandated religion, and a legislature that thumbs its nose at the Supreme Court. We do not believe that is a formula for long-term success. Repeal of HB2 and the election of a governor with a better vision for our future will help North Carolina. Anyone with a minimum of horse sense knows a racist, hateful, legislature will turn people away which is a shame. A lot of Democrats worked hard to make North Carolina a nice place to live and work.

      • Jay ligon

        offered for such a high price.

    • TY THOMPSON

      As you can see, you’re not going to get reasoned debate from the Marxist denizens hereabout, but your missionary outreach to the savages are appreciated nonetheless. 😉

      • Jay ligon

        Reasoned debate is the opposite of dismissive name-calling. If that’s all you’ve got, I guess you have to go with it. Is reading a book considered Marxist in your neck of the woods?

      • Ebrun

        Seems the the radical left, well represented here by Jay and D.g, dominates the NC Democratic Party and continues to spew leftist propaganda in an attempt to disparage the state’s reputation. Such a political strategy, combined with their addiction to identify politics, will keep NC Democrats in the political minority for the foreseeable future.

        • Ebrun

          Wow, that took awhile, D.g.. for you to replicate the same old left wing boilerplate. If NC Democrats continue to endorse and employ such repulsive political hate speech, mainstream NC voters will continue to reject them at the polls.

  2. Jay Ligon

    Excellent Bill of Particulars, Thomas. Republicans are doing all they can to bring back the back old times of narrow-mindedness, ignorance, and bigotry. When news of particularly disgusting regressive acts is announced from time to time to the civilized world, people feel a sick feeling in the pit of their stomachs. Deep South states are written off as hopeless backwaters, America’s black heart.

    North Carolina’s reputation for progress and scholastic excellence in prior decades set the state apart from the heart of darkness in Old Dixie. The GOP, awash in cash from fracking billionaires, working to reinstate Jim Crow deploying the artfully drawn district lines in violation of the Constitution and inspired by bogus economic notions, conspires each day to send the state back to the bad old days when White Guys ruled and black people were afraid.

  3. Andrew D Reed

    Thank you for painting part of the big picture, Thomas.

  4. Robert Herman-Smith

    And a bigger problem is that we have no viable leadership among Democrats to carry on the Sanford Hodges Friday tradition. Strong and progressive candidates are hemmed into urban districts and have a hard time raising enough cash to overcome the well oiled right wing media machine that preempts theither statewide messaging. They follow the national trends that are making Democrats more liberal and the GOP more conservative, and that won’t play in center right NC. I’m not trying to be a downer, but I do worry that it will be another generation until we can right this ship.

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