Government, not the free market, created the internet
When the Federal Communications Commission approved net neutrality, one of my conservative friends tweeted, “Apparently the private sector will now have to invent something to replace the internet.” The private sector, though, didn’t invent the internet. The...
Moonlighting
What is it about Pat McCrory’s cabinet members who seem to think that they have part-time jobs? First, Kieran Shanahan decided that he could continue to work in his law practice while he served as Secretary of Public Safety. That didn’t work out so well and he was...
Hiding bigotry behind religion
When I was a kid growing up in a small Southern town during the 1960s and 1970s, the Ku Klux Klan occasionally dropped literature in our driveway. The pamphlets almost always had two defining features--demeaning caricatures of African-Americans and prominent Christian...
Brother (or sister), can you spare a dime?
In March, PoliticsNC will be two years old. When I started writing, the GOP in North Carolina had just taken control of the legislature and Governor’s Mansion for the first time in more than a hundred years. The North Carolina Democratic Party was in utter disarray...
Republicans can cure Democrats’ disarray
At the Democratic National Committee’s winter meeting, an internal report says the party is in disarray. It lacks a coherent message and the ability to motivate its base, the report says. To win, it says, Democrats must figure out how to connect with Southern whites...
What the future holds for North Carolina Democrats
In the wake of the 2008 election, Democrats in North Carolina believed they were an ascendant party. They elected a governor, US Senator and the state voted for a Democrat for president for the first time since 1976. The increase in African-American and Hispanic...
Collateral damage
The UNC Board of Governor’s review of “240 centers and institutes centers and institutes that conduct research, service or policy analysis across the UNC system” was little more than an elaborate ruse. The goal was to punish UNC law professor Gene Nichol for his...
Jeff Jackson wins twitter #JustOneLegislator
State Senator Jeff Jackson (D-Meck.) won twitter yesterday. Jackson showed up at the General Assembly yesterday while the rest of the state stayed home to avoid icy roads. The first term Senator then set about fixing state government as he saw fit. Using the hashtag...
Coping mechanism
Before there was the Dana Cope who resigned as director of the State Employees association under a cloud, there was Dana Cope the union organizer and leader with big ideas for labor in the state. He was always a complex character. While he had a long history of labor...
A taxing situation
Ever since they passed “tax reform,” Republicans in North Carolina have been bragging about giving everyone in the state a tax cut. It’s not really true and, more significantly, nobody believes them. Now, most people are going to see a smaller tax refund, too. In...
