There can’t be any doubt what we’re in for.
--Gene Nichol
Gene Nichol is the liberal UNC law professor who gives the Republican General Assembly the dickens regularly on the op-ed pages of the News and Observer. Nichol is a hard puncher with a gift for clarity:
[The NCGOP's] most consistent goal is to slant the playing field in its favor, democracy be damned. You know the list — redistricting, voter suppression, ballot manipulation, legislative process tampering, impermissible power grabs and more. (Aug. 6)
More? Nichol lays out the full complaint against the Republican super-majority in Raleigh. Number One: "Our nearly all-white Republican legislative caucuses repeatedly burden and disadvantage Black Tar Heels. The case reports of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals prove it to be so. Lawmakers don’t like it mentioned, but it is what it is."
Women (especially the ones of childbearing age) and LGBTQ have been treated as second- and third-class citizens -- with abortion restrictions, gay marriage bans, licenses to discriminate, House Bill 2, and "the brutal targeting of transgender teens."
They target poor people -- abolishing the earned income tax credit, slashing the state’s unemployment compensation program, cutting SNAP benefits for poor kids, and dramatically reducing legal aid support. "Stepping on their necks is, apparently, the moral high ground."
The decimating of public schools. Vouchers, charters, the incursion of corporate entities into education-for-profit -- tearing down public education. "They don’t admit it. They just do it. Day in, day out." For higher education, their loathing of liberal professors like Gene Nichol has spilled over on the state's flagship universities. A stacked Board of Governors with yes-men for Berger/Moore make life sometimes miserable for university chancellors who want to be independent.
That's the path the General Assembly has taken under a Republican majority. Gene Nichol lays it out, and it's a depressing fact, but voters can storm the helm and turn the ship. It's the only thing.
2 comments:
Thank you for the summary of Mr. Nichol's truthful, factual description of the NCGOP's classist, racist, misogynistic, authoritarian, anti-intellectual attacks against people and democracy. The same forces are at work in Georgia with the University System of Georgia Board of Regents, almost all of whom are GOP business "leaders" with little or no experience as university faculty members. In October of 2021, "the USG board of regents adopted changes to the system’s post-tenure review policy that make it possible to fire tenured faculty members without affording them a dismissal hearing. The move was condemned by the AAUP for effectively abolishing tenure in Georgia’s public colleges and universities in flagrant violation of long established principles on academic freedom and tenure" (https://www.aaup.org/news/aaup-censures-university-system-georgia). Members of the Board of Regents are appointed by the governor (a very conservative Republican).
"Thank you for the summary of Mr. Nichol's truthful, factual description of the NCGOP's classist, racist, misogynistic, authoritarian, anti-intellectual attacks against people and democracy." Purple Hayes
'People and democracy'
Yeah, whatever.
Tell me, how many of you lefties ever think about the common folk, the ones who work to keep this Titanic of a country afloat? I mean, not just as potential suckers to vote for dems? I read a thread today on something called Nextdoor complaining about the Dollar General stores being closed at various locations in Watauga County, sometimes for days, because they don't have help.
Yeah, there are other stores, but for many folks, myself included, keeping out of Boone saves a ton of time and aggravation. Dollar Generals sprang up like mushrooms when during the recession, but as with many other businesses, the problem is workers.
You know, the little folk the self-righteous intellectual types like to look down on while placing an order at a restaurant, or having their cars or toilets fixed. Or work at Dollar Generals.
Reading this blog and others I only see folks interested in power. Power over other people, over other folks' lives, beliefs, families, homes, religion.
Seems it's a contest between the D's and R's over running and ruining people's lives.
And 'democracy'? Well, democracy just means you have the power and not your opponent.
So, I sense many lefties don't understand Trump's appeal, or why the commoners don't flock to democrat candidates.
Maybe this will help.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqSA-SY5Hro
It's a damn shame.
Post a Comment