Defining North Carolina

by Thomas Mills, Politics North Carolina, March 25, 2016.

Republicans really haven’t learned too much from this election cycle. Their presidential contest got hijacked by a reality star who appeals to the most xenophobic and racist tendencies of the GOP base. He’s been successful largely because nobody in the Republican Party tried to curtail those reactionary instincts. Instead, they’ve been using dog whistles for the past 50 years to play on those ugly sympathies and keep those folks in the fold. Now, their numbers have grown big enough to control the whole GOP nominating process.

In North Carolina, the legislature just passed legislation that seems to condone discrimination against LGBT citizens. The law has caused a national outcry. American Airlines, Apple, the NBA, the NCAA, Red Hat, Salesforce, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and a host of other corporations have condemned the legislation. Nobody, so far, from the Republican Party or their ideological allies has spoken up.

The silence from the right speaks volumes. It also shows why the GOP will have problems for years to come. As society better understands and accepts differences among people, the GOP is standing behind a legacy of domination by straight, white men. The nation as a whole is leaving them behind.

Republicans desperately need to find leaders who will stand against the homophobic, xenophobic, and racist elements of their base. If they don’t, they’ll continue to find themselves pandering to a smaller and smaller segment of the population. The moderate middle will abandon them altogether.

Pat McCrory had an opportunity. He was elected as a moderate Republican mayor from a booming New South city. He could have begun to articulate a vision forward for the GOP, focusing on a pro-business platform that welcomed people of all shapes and sizes into a revitalized Republican Party. He could have stood firm on his pledge not to sign new abortion restrictions. He could have vocally opposed the legislation coming out this latest session of the General Assembly. Instead, he turned out to be a hapless politician who doesn’t stand for much of anything and is routinely rolled by legislature.

So the GOP is left with no voices of dissent. The people who created and support Donald Trump continue to define the modern Republican Party. Unfortunately, in the eyes of the nation, they’re starting to define North Carolina, too.