Tyranny of the minority

by | Aug 26, 2016 | Editor's Blog, Politics | 10 comments

Pat McCrory and the Republicans crowing about cutting taxes and a budget surplus remind me of a guy who moves his family from a nice bungalow in a middle class neighborhood to a broken down mobile home in a shady trailer park and brags about the money he’s saving. They care more about saving money than the quality of life of the people who live here. Spending money on education, health care, and infrastructure is an investment in people, not a drain on the budget.

The headline in the print edition of the News & Observer today is “Families bracing for impact of fewer buses.” Contrary to what Republicans claim, they’ve cut funding for public school while giving tax cuts to the rich. Anybody with kids in public schools sees the damage they’ve done. They may have raised teacher salaries in an election year, but per pupil spending has sunk to among the lowest in the nation, down almost 7% since 2010.

Nationally, the GOP has embarrassed us. Travel anywhere outside of the state and people ask, “What’s happened to North Carolina?” From the attempt to introduce a state religion to the current debate over HB2, the Republicans have made North Carolina a laughingstock.

The GOP’s blatant attempt at voter suppression of minorities was called out by the federal court when it disclosed that Republican legislators requested research on the voting patterns of African-Americans before writing the law. Prior to the Republican reign, North Carolina prided itself on handling civil rights issues better than our Southern neighbors. Now, we’re leading the pack toward in promoting racial animosity and discrimination.

While the rest of the country becomes more tolerant, North Carolina Republicans are doubling down on anti-LGBT attitudes. They put Amendment One on the ballot just to see it struck down a couple of years later. They passed a law that allows state employees to opt out of serving gay couples. They passed HB2 and loaded it up with discriminatory measures that reached far beyond bathrooms.

The list goes on. From shifting the tax burden from the wealthy to the middle class to overriding the authority of local governments to dictating university policy, the Republican legislature has hurt the quality of life of the people of North Carolina and damaged our reputation nationally. They promised an economic miracle but are bragging about economic mediocrity that cost us our dignity. The only thing protecting them are gerrymandered districts. As one pundit says, they are the “tyranny of the minority.”

10 Comments

  1. Anne

    Gerrymandering isn’t the only tool at the disposal of NCGOP to retain power. NCGOP is working VERY hard to restrict opportunities to vote. I am in Watauga County – where the Republican Board of Election members adjourned the last BOE meeting without approving a voting plan. This now means the county must use the “default” plant – early voting at only the courthouse. (We’re HOPING that the SBOE will provide a reasonable early voting plan in like with a 2014 court ruling that said abolishing early voting at the Appalachian State campus was unconstitutional.)

    THOUSANDS of Watauga County residents voted early in the primary election – and the presidential elections promises to be a much bigger turnout. The GOP’s push to limit early voting to ONE site – in town (minimal parking, etc.) will have a chilling impact on people’s ability to vote. (http://bit.ly/2bVh5aD)

    About a week ago, Dallas Woodhouse tweeted a link to a story showing the horrors of vote fraud. The story had four examples – none in NC. Two were absentee ballot fraud (and note: shutting down all but one early voting site likely means more absentee ballots – and more opportunities for fraud); one story was about one convicted felon who voted in a school board election; and the fourth story was about one Wisconsin man who voted multiple times (in Wisconsin.)

    NCGOP is incapable of providing adequate evidence of massive voting fraud IN North Carolina that requires the voter suppression that they are advocating.

    Now, in an election year, they’ve realized the value of teacher salaries but must lie about NCGOP investment in teacher salaries. I’ve never seen such lies in the political arena – and I’ve seen quite a bit in this life.

    It is clear that NCGOP knows that to win, they must win by fraud – gerrymandering and voter suppression. It’s truly sad that NCGOP is not interested in developing policies NC residents actually support.

    • Terri M. Johnson

      Well said, Anne. I live in Caldwell County and know how the GOP is doing everything they can to limit the votes of those attending App State and elsewhere in Boone. Please do your best to promote getting out the vote so we can show them that even all their lies and maneuvering won’t suppress our votes!

  2. TbeT

    A small point, Thomas.
    I think the NC Marriage Amendment passed in May of 2012. Same-sex marriage wasn’t firmly put in place as the law of the land until Oct 2014 when the SCOTUS refused to review lower court approval of SSM. So that would be 29 months (not “a year later”) between passage of NC’s Amendment 1 and its full and final overturning.
    Even using the June 2014 date of the first federal court (the 4th District, which covers NC) ruling for SSM would make it a 25-month period between the anti-SSM referendum and final resolution of the issue.
    Correct me if I am wrong, please?

      • LINDA JAMISON

        Also, Governor McCrory has sided with Duke Energy over residents affected by the Coal Ash well contamination for people who live these plants. I can not wait until November election day.

        Than you,
        L Jamison

  3. Dr B

    Sadly the Republicans in our great state have turned a blind eye to reality. They have sought to suppress science that supports the concepts of evolution, global warming, and consequent rising sea levels. They have rolled back environmental regulations that protect our air, our water, and thus our food and drink. They turned down hundreds of thousands of dollars to expand Meidcaire/Medicaide due to obstinate and blatant racism towards our President and in the process have indifferently denied healthcare to thousands of needy and deserving citizens. Although most of them consider themselves Christians, they have no trouble turning their backs on the LGBT community, seeking to suppress minority voting, and cutting direly needed social programs for our under/unemployed families and their children. They have even proposed doing away with free lunches at schools for hungry and impoverished children. WTF??And they are ignorant enough to think that they have done this with God’s blessing. I have to quote the Bible by saying God forgive them for they know not what they do. Because if they are doing this intentionally burning in Hell for eternity is too light of a sentence.

    When intelligent human beings look back on what has happened in our state over the last 4-6 years it will be with the same slack jawed disbelief that is reserved for the treatment of Native Americans, slavery, the Jews in WWII, and the blatant segregation in the South that still thrives despite the Civil Rights Act. The saddest part of it all is that we must bear their shame because they are proud of the needless pain they have inflicted on all of us.

  4. Bob

    This is the most succinct summary of the ruling party I have seen. I frankly had more faith in them than I should have. I would never have predicted the depths to which they have been willing to go. McCrory is especially disappointing. The state thought it was electing Dwight Eisenhower as governor and ended up with George Wallace. What a shame.

    • Phillip Kridel

      Best description of Pat McCrory I’ve read.

  5. Terri M. Johnson

    Great article, Thomas, summarizing all of the poor ideas and actions of the GOP controlled NC General Assembly and Governor. These are precisely the reasons that I jumped into the fray this year, after the deadline to file for candidacy, to give an unopposed GOP candidate a run for his money. I was able to get enough signatures to be on the ballot as a progressive Democratic write-in candidate in NC House District 87, Caldwell County. Even though I’m in a primarily red county, I’m working to TURN NC Blue to help put a stop to this disastrous situation in Raleigh. Thank you for the work you are doing to expose the truth behind the spin coming out of McCrory and his cronies.

    • Thomas Mills

      Thanks for what you’re doing and thanks for reading.

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