Big government conservatives

by | Mar 6, 2015 | Editor's Blog, NC Politics | 9 comments

In a column this week, John Hood of the John Locke Foundation wrote, “Modern Conservatives…believe that fiscal and policy decisions ought to be made as close to local communities as necessary.” That certainly doesn’t describe the Republicans in the legislature. They’re big government conservatives who regularly impose their will on local governments.

In counties across the state, they’ve forced unwanted redistricting to make local boards and commissions more Republican. They’ve tried to take over airports and water systems. So far this year, Sen. Trudy Wade (R-Guilford) and Sen. Chad Barefoot (R-Wake) introduced bills that would redistrict the Greensboro City Council and the Wake County Commission. Neither body asked the Senators to intervene in their affairs.

To his credit, Gov. Pat McCrory said the legislature should stay out of local government. He’s right. When Democrats controlled the legislature, they didn’t redistrict areas that trended Republican. They generally left local governments to their own devices and allowed them to succeed or fail on their records. They let the voters decide.

The Republicans in the legislature don’t trust voters, though. Their voter suppression laws are designed to make voting more difficult for people who don’t agree with them. Their heavy-handed redistricting ensured that Republicans can maintain control of the legislature and Congressional delegations even if a majority of people vote Democratic. That’s not democracy.

The situation is really ironic. The party that claims competition improves everything from government contracts to public schools wants to stifle competition in the political arena–the one aspect of American life that the founding fathers meant to be competitive. Contrary to what many Republicans now preach, this country wasn’t founded on free-market principals, but it was founded on democratic ones. The Republicans trying to meddle in local affairs to rig elections aren’t conservatives, they’re authoritarians.

9 Comments

  1. Edward Barnard

    It all comes down to who is counting the votes and checking the totals for accuracy. The NC republikan party is only in power today. Because the voters are locked-out of vote verification. Demand transparent vote tabulation today and these fascist republikan brown shirts will go away; if not, they will take over the state as well as the country. Their advantage is in commandeering the 24/7 news media!

  2. Douglas Earl Berger

    So Chad Barefoot wants to limit the power of every voter in Wake County. Currently every voter gets to vote in all 7 races for County Commissioner. He wants to reduce their ability to vote for 7 Commissioners down to 3 Commissioners. Are the voters of Wake County going to tolerate having 4 votes stripped away from them? Most of the Republican suppression bills have been more subtle. This bill forthrightly strips every voter from their right to vote in 4 individual races. This issue should be potent enough to defeat him in 2016.

    • Bob

      What’s your point, Tim?

      • Disgraceful

        His point is that he’s a right-wing brute.

    • Frank McGuirt

      Yeah, you’re right Tim but your Republican friends are practicing hypocracy, while espousing local control they’re bulldozing over local governments.

  3. Bob

    Well, amen! Have never seen it spoken better. Surely some libertarian-leaning GOP agree.

  4. Apply Liberally

    Amen, amen, amen!!

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