Discrimination as a campaign tool

by Thomas Mills, Politics North Carolina, April 1, 2016.

House Bill 2 wasn’t the only bill dealing with protections for the LGBT community to come up this week. In states across the South, legislatures were passing bills that would allow businesses and individuals to discriminate. In Georgia and Virginia, governors vetoed so-called “religious freedom” bills that would allow businesses to refuse service to LGBT citizens. On Wednesday, the Mississippi Senate passed a “sweeping anti-LGBT” bill that had already passed the state House. The governor hasn’t said whether or not he will sign the bill.

It’s no coincidence these bills are coming up during an election year. Conservatives are cynically using the legislation to fire up their base. These Republicans don’t mind the protests. On the contrary, they welcome them. The louder progressives scream, the more likely the GOP’s social conservative base is to show up at the polls in November. With Donald Trump or Ted Cruz on the ballot, the Democratic base is almost certainly coming out to vote. The GOP wants to make sure their people are motivated, too.

While their base reacted just like they expected, the response from the business community probably caught them off guard. Republicans like to think the only thing businesses consider is the bottom line. That’s not completely true. There are plenty of places they can go to make a profit. They also want places that are comfortable for their employees. Passing legislation like HB2 sends a signal that North Carolina doesn’t really welcome LGBT people.

The reaction from the governors also shows changing realities. Georgia’s Republican Governor Nathan Deal vetoed the legislation saying that the bill is not a reflection of the people of Georgia. Democratic Governor Terry McAuliffe called the Virginia bill “unconstitutional” and “discriminatory.” Deal is in his final term and did what he believes is right with no concern about re-election. McAuliffe followed the Democratic line. McCrory, of course, signed the legislation and has been embattled ever since.

Southern Republican legislatures are using discriminatory legislation to motivate their base. They’ve been doing it for centuries. In the 20th century, it was African-Americans. Jesse Helms got his start as an operative in a 1950 Democratic primary for US Senate when he created campaign materials that accused UNC President Frank Porter Graham of favoring “mingling of the races.” We saw it when South Carolina political operative Lee Atwater created the Willie Horton ad in the 1988 presidential contest. And we saw it in 1992 with Helms’ White Hands ad against Harvey Gantt. 

The question this year is whether or not there are enough social conservatives left to carry a state like North Carolina or if it just helps legislators in gerrymandered districts. The state has added 4 million people since those Helms’ ads in 1992. Most of those folks are in urban and suburban areas and most are not religious conservatives. They may want to be left alone by government, but they also don’t want feel like they’ve moved to a backwater.

http://www.politicsnc.com/discrimination-as-a-campaign-tool/