NCGA’s noxious nostalgia

by | May 16, 2017 | Politics | 3 comments

The “conservative revolution” of the NCGA has been portrayed as an ideological project. Philosophically rigid legislators imposing a clear vision on a messy world, with chaos as consequence. This may have been a fair read in 2013, but since then the NCGA’s work has become less intellectualized and more nostalgic.

The Republican majority is comprised of a certain type of citizen—white, conservative and rural. There is little diversity. Moreover, most of them are politically amateurish, motivated more by what the critic Lionel Trilling called “irritable mental gestures” than by the philosophical rigor of Art Pope. Lacking clear goals, they are trying to use the power of the legislature to resurrect a discredited way of life.

One sinister through line in all NCGOP initiatives has been the restoration of racial hierarchies. Voter ID was an attempt to defuse growing black political power. School vouchers facilitate the return of lily-white schools. Welfare cuts take money from a disproportionately nonwhite population and refund them to the wealthy. And the legislature’s action to protect Rebel monuments will keep our vicious past on visual display.

The days of rampant oppression took place when economic progress was rudimentary. This, too, seems to be something that Republicans long for. The Majority has assaulted our institutions of innovation: The Biofuels Center (eliminated), the Biotechnology Center (partially crippled), energy research at universities (defunded, if the Senate gets its way). These institutions represent an acceptance that all our counties must move on from dying industries. Reactionaries cannot countenance that.

The legislature pushes this program not in spite, but because of the headlines it generates. Their message is this: If you want to live in a place that is open and pluralistic, go somewhere else. That’s why they tolerate Larry Pittman’s screeds. That’s why they passed HB2. Ultimately, they seek the attrition of residents who do not think like them. Leaving behind those who are content to live in the past.

To fans of modernity, this is highly distressing. But take heart. The rest of society continues to evolve, and it asserts its will against the legislature with regularity. The NCGA loses in the courts, suffers blows from the corporate community, and discredits itself in the eyes of public opinion. It’s one state legislature against the world, and the world is the heavy favorite.

3 Comments

  1. JC Honeycutt

    I must admit it hadn’t occurred to me that the NC General Assembly’s actions might–among other wrong-headed goals–be trying to avoid the relocation of anyone with a 3-digit IQ to our currently not-so-fair state. Having a reasonable grasp of mathematics, it seems to me that this would be counterproductive, as there are few if any jobs available for the under-educated citizens the GA would appear to desire, and they are removing most of the incentives for unemployed or under-employed people to move to NC (assuming the jobless could afford to do so, which seems doubtful). On the other hand, the nostalgia exhibited by Republicans in the GA could conceivably extend to supporting a return to peonage, which I believe is already in effect in some of our more rural counties (*cough*–hog farms –*cough). However, unless substantially more states take up that mission, it will be difficult to entice even our most information-limited citizens to embrace “Living with Less” as an attractive slogan for our state–never mind those who have previously experienced the attractions of a living wage, schools that prepare youth for jobs that pay such wages, etc..

  2. Stephen Lewis, Sr.

    I am always uneasy about articles like the one you wrote. I think you are well meaning but you may well be doing the Democratic party more harm than good. When Hillary Clinton spoke of the “deplorable’s” she was insulting a group that are my friends and family. I was embarrassed at her and the party I belong to not at the deplorable’s she spoke of. I voted for her anyway but I continue to wonder when the party is going to stop shooting itself in the foot over this. Your article is coming dangerously close to doing this again. It makes you appear to be judgmental against a group of people who are not as ignorant as you may think they are. And for the Democratic party it once again put us in the position of having to fight a fight I just don’t feel like fighting anymore. If the elections of 2010 and 2014 were not wake-up calls for the Democrats then I don’t know what would be. I can disagree with certain Republican friends and family members with out the name calling you have just done. They disagree with me also but at the end of the day we all break bread together call each other family. Now I strongly believe the Republican leadership in the General Assembly are exploiting these people and I believe the will see it also, but the more you throw these insults at them the longer this is gong to take and the longer it will take the Democrats to regain majority status in this state.

  3. Norma Munn

    Interesting comment – ” the rest of society continues to evolve” — but that also includes other states as they make saner choices. Eventually the attractiveness of a state is greatly reduced by this conduct. People looking to choose between jobs, or considering where they want their children reared, or the community in which to retire, do look at this kind of conduct. Education is especially important. If the gerrymandered districts leave the GOP in control in 2020, I do not believe NC will find itself an attractive place to be in the following decade.

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