Democrats' hope
Published October 14, 2015
[caption id="attachment_3774" align="alignleft" width="150"]
Roy Cooper[/caption]
Editorial by Greensboro News-Record, October 14, 2015.
Down-and-out North Carolina Democrats have one hope in 2016: Roy Cooper. The state attorney general officially launched his campaign Monday to take on Republican Gov. Pat McCrory.
Republicans will keep control of the state House and Senate. They are assured of maintaining a 4-3 advantage on the state Supreme Court. They will again win most of the state’s congressional seats. Sen. Richard Burr is favored to win a third term. The Republican presidential candidate usually carries North Carolina, although that race is hard to forecast. So Cooper represents the best chance for Democrats to score a major victory.
McCrory, the Republican incumbent, is hardly an underdog. The last three statewide elections have gone well for the GOP. Burr was easily re-elected in 2010, and Republicans took control of the legislature. In 2012, McCrory became the first Republican to be elected governor in 24 years. Last year, Republican Thom Tillis edged Democrat Kay Hagan to win the other Senate seat.
The state’s economy has improved since McCrory took office. Employment is up and tax rates are down. North Carolina is developing a stronger energy industry. McCrory led efforts to put a bond referendum on the March 2016 ballot to fund infrastructure projects. Starting pay for teachers has been raised.
The governor has problems, too. The state’s unemployment rate has been ticking up all year and is nearly a point higher than the nation’s. The legislature has implemented regressive social policies and dictated to cities and counties how they should govern themselves, sometimes over McCrory’s objections. Some legislative leaders don’t seem to have much respect for him. It’s sometimes questionable who’s really running the state.
Cooper’s political career is practically unblemished. He served in the legislature and was Senate majority leader. He was elected attorney general in 2000. In 2008, he won more votes than any other candidate on the statewide ballot. In 2012, Republicans didn’t put up an opponent. If he’s done a poor job, as Republicans have been saying lately, why didn’t they try to defeat him?
At the same time, attorneys general don’t draw much attention. A recent Public Policy Polling survey found that 49 percent of North Carolina respondents have no opinion about Cooper. The rest were about evenly split between approval and disapproval of his job performance. (More were negative than positive about McCrory.)
History probably favors McCrory. Since Jim Hunt in 1980, every North Carolina governor running for re-election has won.
If Cooper does prevail, his ability to get things done would be hampered by an adversarial legislature. On the other hand, many voters might want their governor to stand up to lawmakers more often. The same recent poll found that 62 percent of respondents disapprove of the legislature. Cooper might run as much against it as against McCrory.
That alone could give Democrats hope of regaining some of the power they once took for granted in North Carolina.
October 14, 2015 at 11:31 am
Norm Kelly says:
Interesting way to end the editorial supporting lib hopes. 'Democrats hope of regaining some of the power they once took for granted'. Demons took the masses for granted. And believed that no matter what they did, they could spin it so they would continue to win elections. And, don't forget, they also controlled the gerrymander process allowing them to create safe districts. Somehow, voters were able to overcome libs controlling gerry and place demons in the minority all across Raleigh.
Roy Cooper has been a good attorney general for the state. I even voted for him. Cuz until recently he did his job.
Then Republicans were given control. It seems Roy saw a future for himself in the mansion. And instead of doing his job, he decided to get political. Apparently taking a cue from central planner level libs, Roy determined he could decide which laws to enforce and defend and which ones should be ignored. Part of Roy's job is to defend laws passed by the legislature in court whenever someone decides they don't like the law. Roy decided that he didn't want to defend a law that he disagreed with. Putting his personal beliefs ahead of law passed by the legislature AND approved by a majority of voters.
I did not listen to Roy's announcement. Couldn't be bothered. What I did hear though is that Roy wants to take us back to the way things were done when libs ruled Raleigh. The tax & spend policies of the past are Roy's future. The scheme of pitting one group ('the poor') against another group ('the wealthy') is in Roy's future. The idea of 'the wealthy' not paying 'their fair share' is in Roy's future. What other parts of the old standard lib play-book is Roy interested in resurrecting? Has Roy showed his die-hard lib beliefs? Will Roy try to take our state backwards, in the hopes that this time the previously failed policies of the left will finally work?
Everyone working together, heading in the same direction, is powerful. Everyone working toward penalizing one group in order to claim to benefit another group is pointless. Taking from one group, by government force, to the benefit of the beloved group has never worked. Eventually the demonized react by taking themselves OUT of the situation. Partially because they have the ability to make this change. Partially because they realize they are being penalized for being financially successful rather than being appreciated for increasing the general economy. Who pays more employees - the beloved poor who can't even afford to repair their own vehicle or the demonized wealthy who pay more taxes, own more businesses, and buy luxury items that are highly taxed?
With Roy, will our state move forward or will it degenerate to the problems of the past? Would our state take the same direction as other lib strong-holds or would we continue to make forward progress?
Is Pat the best we have? Perhaps not. But is Roy better? Is his direction, his reliance on old schemes, the right direction for our future? Definitely not! We'll know if Roy's direction is best when we hear if he's pandering to low-information types, if he's reading the standard play-book, if he's defending tax-and-spend policies, or if he's interested in ANY innovation and different direction. If Roy suggests ANY new ideas, we'll know he's interested in the state's future, not it's past. If Roy simply demonizes Republicans and Republican ideas, while championing liberal schemes, we'll know he's stuck in the past, not good for out future, and not worthy of occupying the mansion.
