Tim Moore came into power pledging to show that the GOP can govern. Pat McCrory hoped the 2015 legislative session would be about jobs. Instead, it’s about guns, gays, and abortions. The social conservatives are driving the agenda right now and it’s not what people want to hear.
None of these issues themselves is enough to flip either chamber of the legislature or turn McCrory out of the Governor’s Mansion. To a public weary of partisan bickering and divisive language, though, they show misplaced priorities. People want more or better jobs and a little economic security. We’re not hearing much about that in the legislature right now.
McCrory’s jobs strategy hinges more on a slogan more than a program. Republicans tweet obsessively with the hashtag #CarorlinaComeback. They roll out statistic after statistic indicating an improving economy. The repetitiveness indicates they are trying to stay on message, but there’s also the feeling that they are trying to convince themselves. The economy is getting better everywhere in the country and, contrary to their claims, Obamacare has not sent us back into recession. But the jobs coming back to North Carolina pay less than the ones we lost. While folks may be feeling a little better, they aren’t satisfied yet.
Regardless of how egregious the legislation moving through General Assembly is, Democrats should bash Republicans for focusing on divisive social issues instead of economic ones. They should condemn the governor more for breaking his promise more than they should harp on the bill he signed into law. They need to let voters know that the party of limited government is imposing Big Government regulations on everything from local elections to health care choices.
Activists and the base get fired up by the causes they champion. Swing voters make decisions differently. They barely pay attention to politics, but they are concerned with issues that affect their lives directly. They aren’t tolerant of dishonesty and they despise hypocrites. Democrats need to let voters know that the party that promised limited government, deregulation, jobs, and economic development is instead breaking campaign promises, usurping local power, and imposing heavy handed restrictions. They have the evidence to back up those claims.
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 >
It’s always been Guns, God & Gays. The GOP hasn’t changed it’s platform in years.
Since the Guns, God & Gays agenda has worked so well for the Republicans, why would they change it? We Democrats have not been able to sell our agenda to the NC public since 2008.
And just how blind and out of touch on social and state personnel matters is the NCGOP? This, as reported at wral.com, pretty much says it all:
“Tuesday, June 9: “The state Senate meets at 2 p.m. Among the bills on its calendar is a measure that would create a study of why teachers are leaving the public school system.”
Their being so disconnected as to not know the answer to that question is just plain amazing.
“Republicans and their Governor continue to limit women’s reproductive rights but where are the all the new good-paying jobs and the needed long term investments in education, health and economic programs, transportation, and the environment?”
“Republicans espouse giving public employees the right to deny services and civil rights to those state citizens who they find objectionable,but where are all the new good paying jobs and the needed long term investments in education, health and economic development programs, transportation, and the environment?”
“Republicans want guns at the State Fair, in restaurants and bars, in schools, in courts, and even in State Capitol buildings, but where are all the new good paying jobs and the needed long term investments in education, health and economic development programs, transportation, and the environment?”
Per above, the messages—-underscoring the GOP’s myopia on social issues and being blind to the real needs faced by the state—-are sooooo easy to generate. Come on, Dems, get your act together and start shouting these things loudly for the next 17 months!