Governor Pat is hopping on the bandwagon on the most important issue of our time: the Confederate flag. We don’t have a Confederate flag flying over the Capitol as our neighbors do in South Carolina, but the state does offer specialty license plates for the North Carolina chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. McCrory wants the legislature to act to make sure these license plates no longer show up on vehicles.
Just before the Charleston massacre, the Supreme Court ruled that specialty license plates on such controversial issues were permissible as state speech. With the license plates, the governor feels that the state is speaking out in support of the rebel flag, and along with it, white supremacy and the rationale for secession back in 1861. It’s time, then, to relegate it to an uglier part of our history. The time is right.
Most people agree with the governor. But even this simple step – removing the specialty license plates – is provoking a dispute with the General Assembly. Phil Berger says the legislature doesn’t need to act on the issue – this is a purely administrative decision. In other words, get Tony Tata on the case. The governor’s team disagrees and say their hands are tied until the legislature changes the law.
Who’s right? I don’t know. But I know one person who seems to be making sense is House Minority Leader Larry Hall. He doesn’t support the Confederate flag either, but says the debate over the issue shouldn’t distract people from what’s really important. He’s trying to push for more gun control, but at least he isn’t under the delusion that banishing the flag from existence is going to reduce violence or eliminate racial hatred. Removing the flag is a smart move politically and a deeply symbolic gesture, but when it comes to eliminating the mass shootings that continue to plague our society, it is a woefully ineffective one.
John Wynne is the “conservative voice” at PoliticsNC, where he also provides polling analysis and commentary on legislative campaigns. When not writing about politics, he enjoys gardening and listening to opera. Contact: johncwynne@gmail.com.
Pretending history did not happen will not change it. The confederate flag is a part of history for this country. I resent the attempt to take the confederate flat from the list of specialty tags when you leave others. If you remove the confederate flat, remove all spocialty flag. Do not attempt to select which part of our history we will be allowed to remember. We sound more and more like communism. When will it stop?
Janie, we have free speech until that speech becomes hate speech that is used to intimidate and threaten others. I think the Confederate flag needs to take its place in history and museums and step out of popular culture. There is a difference. It’s time.
We will just have to see what Shadow-Governor Berger decides to do. Based on the past year of battling between the Gov and the Shadow-Gov, it’s Berger’s call as usual.
Eliminating specialty plates altogether would be content-neutral, but allowing some specialty plates while banning others based on the content of the specialty message is censorship. It is denial of free speech. We should not do it even if we can do it. Free speech includes allowing others to say things with which we disagree. It includes allowing others to say even things which are untenable. We should either continue allowing the Sons of Confederate Veterans to have the flag on their specialty plates or do away with specialty plates.
Great update. It will be interesting to see how the Berger vs. McCrory “battle” for jurisdiction plays out. I cannot think, as gerrymandered as the districts are, that he fears ramifications of his people having to pick the correct side in an argument while angering a small number of voters, but who knows?