Traitor
Rep. Tricia Cotham’s switch from Democrat to Republican tells us a lot about her. First, she clearly lacks any firm political principles, which, in my book, means she lacks character. Second, she probably cut a deal with the GOP to draw her a safe district when they...
The political implications of a Trump indictment in NC
Donald Trump is now under indictment. I understand that we can’t give presidents a pass for committing crimes, but I wish it were for something other than a campaign finance violation from seven years ago. I wish he was being indicted for financial crimes or trying to...
Lying to themselves
Yesterday, the state senate voted to override Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of a bill end pistol permits. This morning, the state house will likely do the same. The bill will become law and we’ll have one less tool to keep guns out of the hands of disturbed and dangerous...
Republicans Are Projecting Their Own White Fragility Onto Our Schools
The North Carolina Capitol building cost our state over $532,000, a sum so gargantuan in the 1830s that it rendered the state legally bankrupt. Labor costs for the project, however, came in at zero. The explanation for this paradox is that our government forced...
The GOP civil war plays out again in NC
State Treasurer Dale Falwell announced he’s running for governor, setting up a Republican primary with Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson. In real terms, it’s a race between the reactionary populist GOP of Donald Trump and the Reagan Republicans that dominated the...
Thoughts on the Rage Against Identity Politics
In 1976, the Democratic nominee for president narrowly carried Mississippi. This man was a peanut farmer with a soft Southern drawl and a modest house in the rolling hills of Georgia. He was a white Mississippian's idea of a good old boy, and his identity, if you...
When the doctors leave, jobs will follow
I just got back from Tennessee where their legislature makes North Carolina's General Assembly look like a bunch of flaming liberals. They have one of the most restrictive anti-abortion laws in the country. Under a statute called the Human Life Protection Act, doctors...
Is an indictment worth it?
This week appears to be the one where Donald Trump gets indicted and I don’t know how I feel about it. One side wants him in handcuffs no matter what. The other would, as Trump said, support him if he stood “in the middle of Fifth Avenue and [shot] somebody.” That’s...
Big Business Has Gone Hard-Right in North Carolina
The legislature's bill to ban limitations on gas stoves is little more than a juvenile exercise in Berkeley-bashing. Following 20 other red states, the General Assembly has peevishly introduced a proposal to preempt our state's local governments from requiring...
Remember when Republicans liked less government?
I liked the Republicans more when they were the party of limited government. Of course, I probably liked them because they were also in minority back then. Still, they used to oppose government interference in our lives and institutions. Their adhered to the saying...
Ten years
PoliticsNC is ten years old this month. I didn’t know where it would go when I started writing. I’m just glad that we’re still standing today. We’ve been through a lot together. Thanks for reading and sharing. Back in the spring of 2013, Republicans had taken control...
The explainer
Yesterday, my friend Gary Pearce wrote a blog titled “Jeff Jackson’s Bank Shot.” In it, Pearce calls Jackson “the best political communicator in North Carolina.” I read his piece and immediately emailed Gary to let him know that he had pre-emptively stolen...