Small-Government Politics Requires White Racism
Thomas Jefferson could not believe a Black person wrote the poem. A Boston poet, Phillis Wheatley, had composed a lyrical tribute to George Washington, commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, creating a sensation in the Patriot ranks. She was an enslaved African...
Donald Trump is a Below-Average Politician
The traditional arbiter of elite conservative opinion, the Wall Street Journal editorial page, is taking a lead mallet to the politics of Donald Trump. Most recently, former George W. Bush strategist Karl Rove plainly stated that a Republican Party loyal to Trump will...
The bad guys
When I was a kid, we played army a lot. We ran through the woods, building forts and digging foxholes, brandishing toy guns. Our enemies were usually the Germans or Japanese. We were defenders of democracy, saving the world from authoritarian dictatorships. Back...
A look at Republican midterm results
How did the GOP do in the November 2022 elections? Here is the big picture at the local, state, and the national level. Local level. Before the election Republicans controlled 61 County commissions. After the elections the GOP controls 67 County...
Musk, Tweet Storms, shopping malls, and the future of Twitter
All of Twitter is all atwitter over the Twitter files. The right is sure they’ve uncovered a conspiracy to suppress Constitutionally protected free speech. The left believes the moderation that the so-called Twitter files are highlighting was mostly justified. The...
GOP candidates: No job. no experience. No worries!
On the weekend before the Georgia runoff for U.S. Senate, the state's Republican lieutenant governor called Herschel Walker, the GOP nominee, “one of the worst candidates in our party's history." He was right and voters rejected the Heisman Trophy winner and...
Lessons for North Carolina Democrats from the 2022 electorate
Democrats in North Carolina can learn a lot from the 2022 midterm election. Turnout offers insight into what they need to do to be more competitive in the state. The Georgia election results can guide them on the type of candidates and messages needed to win in a...
The Trumpy Supreme Court could Set Back American Liberty
Americans of the Baby Boom generation derived, from mid-century experience, a view of the U.S. Supreme Court as essentially pro-liberty. Boomers spent their formative years watching the Warren Court steadily expand the rights and freedoms of American citizens. They...
I don’t believe God shot up the substation, but if He did…
Two Duke Energy substations in Moore County were shot up this weekend, leaving 45,000 people without power. Duke says repairing the stations could take several days. The sheriff called the attack targeted and said the people responsible, “knew exactly what they were...
Originalism and the Independent State Legislature Doctrine
The Supreme Court is going to take up another North Carolina redistricting case next week. This time, the North Carolina legislature is arguing that the General Assembly has the sole responsibility for overseeing federal elections, including drawing Congressional...
Mark Robinson is not fascinating
Few tropes in North Carolina political discourse annoy me more than the claim that Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson is "fascinating." In a state that elected Jesse Helms to five terms in the U.S. Senate, a political career fueled by bigotry hardly registers as...
My first Post post about Twitter
I’ve joined Post and am trying to join Mastodon, but glitches have kept me out so far. I’m not leaving Twitter just yet. It’s still the primary information sharing platform and I still want to read what people are saying and sharing. That said, I believe we are about...